FOR SALE:
A vintage, Halloween-themed decoration for your letter box
1996 PUMPKIN HOLLOW HALLOWEEN MAILBOX COVER (18" X 20")
DETAILS:
Extend your Halloween season excitement to your mailbox!
Pumpkin Hollow's "Halloween Mailbox Cover" features a fun, hand-embroidered Halloween design that is perfect for showing off your spooktacular spirit. The mailbox cover design depicts a friendly-faced jack-o'-lantern sharing some space with 3 orange pumpkins as a couple of bats sail toward the moon in the background. This mailbox cover will fit all standard size mailboxes. To install, simply lace the cord through the grommets and secure tightly. Pumpkin Hollow produces some great holiday items and is a brand created by the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. Dayton-Hudson Corp (now known as Target Corporation) is the parent company of the Target brand which many recognize as a beloved department store, one that always has a great Halloween selection every year.
▪︎Hand-embroidered design
▪︎Made of Durable Nylon▪︎Fully covers both sides of most rural mailboxes
▪︎Includes 4' of black string and eight 4" plastic ties for attachment to mailbox
▪︎This mailbox cover will fit all standard size mailboxes
▪︎To install, simply lace the cord through the grommets
"This product will fade with long exposure to direct sunlight. To preserve the color and fabric of this product, we recommend that you spray it with any clear water repellent product. Products such as Scotchgard water repellent can be found in many retail stores."
CONDITION:
New in package. Packaging has some storage/age wear. Please see photos.
*To ensure safe delivery all items are carefully packaged before shipping out*
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*ALL PHOTOS AND TEXT ARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF SIDEWAYS STAIRS CO. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.*
"Halloween or Hallowe'en (a contraction of Hallows' Even or Hallows' Evening),[5] also known as Allhalloween,[6] All Hallows' Eve,[7] or All Saints' Eve,[8] is a celebration observed in several countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide,[9] the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.[10][11]
It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain; that such festivals may have had pagan roots; and that Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church.[12][13][14][15][16] Some believe, however, that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals like Samhain.[17][18][19][20]
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (or the related guising and souling), attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories, as well as watching horror films.[21] In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows' Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular,[22][23][24] although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration.[25][26][27] Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes....
The word Halloween or Hallowe'en dates to about 1745[32] and is of Christian origin.[33] The word "Hallowe'en" means "Saints' evening".[34] It comes from a Scottish term for All Hallows' Eve (the evening before All Hallows' Day).[35] In Scots, the word "eve" is even, and this is contracted to e'en or een. Over time, (All) Hallow(s) E(v)en evolved into Hallowe'en. Although the phrase "All Hallows'" is found in Old English "All Hallows' Eve" is itself not seen until 1556....
Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by folk customs and beliefs from the Celtic-speaking countries, some of which are believed to have pagan roots.[37] Jack Santino, a folklorist, writes that "there was throughout Ireland an uneasy truce existing between customs and beliefs associated with Christianity and those associated with religions that were Irish before Christianity arrived".[38] Historian Nicholas Rogers, exploring the origins of Halloween, notes that while "some folklorists have detected its origins in the Roman feast of Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or in the festival of the dead called Parentalia, it is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of Samhain, which comes from the Old Irish for 'summer's end'."[39]
Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn, ˈsaʊɪn/) was the first and most important of the four quarter days in the medieval Gaelic calendar and was celebrated on 31 October – 1 November[citation needed] in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.[40][41] A kindred festival was held at the same time of year by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany; a name meaning "first day of winter". For the Celts, the day ended and began at sunset; thus the festival began on the evening before 7 November by modern reckoning (the half point between equinox and solstice).[42] Samhain and Calan Gaeaf are mentioned in some of the earliest Irish and Welsh literature. The names have been used by historians to refer to Celtic Halloween customs up until the 19th century,[43] and are still the Gaelic and Welsh names for Halloween.
Samhain/Calan Gaeaf marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year.[44][45] Like Beltane/Calan Mai, it was seen as a liminal time, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned. This meant the Aos Sí (Connacht pronunciation /iːsˈʃiː/ eess-SHEE, Munster /e:s ʃi:/), the 'spirits' or 'fairies', could more easily come into this world and were particularly active.[46][47] Most scholars see the Aos Sí as "degraded versions of ancient gods [...] whose power remained active in the people's minds even after they had been officially replaced by later religious beliefs".[48] The Aos Sí were both respected and feared, with individuals often invoking the protection of God when approaching their dwellings.[49][50] At Samhain, it was believed that the Aos Sí needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people and their livestock survived the winter. Offerings of food and drink, or portions of the crops, were left outside for the Aos Sí.[51][52][53] The souls of the dead were also said to revisit their homes seeking hospitality.[54] Places were set at the dinner table and by the fire to welcome them.[55] The belief that the souls of the dead return home on one night of the year and must be appeased seems to have ancient origins and is found in many cultures throughout the world.[56] In 19th century Ireland, "candles would be lit and prayers formally offered for the souls of the dead. After this the eating, drinking, and games would begin".[57]
Throughout Ireland and Britain, the household festivities included rituals and games intended to foretell one's future, especially regarding death and marriage.[58] Apples and nuts were often used in these divination rituals. They included apple bobbing, nut roasting, scrying or mirror-gazing, pouring molten lead or egg whites into water, dream interpretation, and others.[59] Special bonfires were lit and there were rituals involving them. Their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and were also used for divination.[44] In some places, torches lit from the bonfire were carried sunwise around homes and fields to protect them.[43] It is suggested that the fires were a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic – they mimicked the Sun, helping the "powers of growth" and holding back the decay and darkness of winter.[55][60][61] In Scotland, these bonfires and divination games were banned by the church elders in some parishes.[62] In Wales, bonfires were lit to "prevent the souls of the dead from falling to earth".[63] Later, these bonfires served to keep "away the devil".[64]
From at least the 16th century,[65] the festival included mumming and guising in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Wales.[66] This involved people going house-to-house in costume (or in disguise), usually reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. It may have originally been a tradition whereby people impersonated the Aos Sí, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf, similar to the custom of souling (see below). Impersonating these beings, or wearing a disguise, was also believed to protect oneself from them.[67] It is suggested that the mummers and guisers "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".[68] In parts of southern Ireland, the guisers included a hobby horse. A man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house-to-house reciting verses – some of which had pagan overtones – in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla'; not doing so would bring misfortune.[69] In Scotland, youths went house-to-house with masked, painted or blackened faces, often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[66] F. Marian McNeill suggests the ancient festival included people in costume representing the spirits, and that faces were marked (or blackened) with ashes taken from the sacred bonfire.[65] In parts of Wales, men went about dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod.[66] In the late 19th and early 20th century, young people in Glamorgan and Orkney cross-dressed.[66]
Elsewhere in Europe, mumming and hobby horses were part of other yearly festivals. However, in the Celtic-speaking regions they were "particularly appropriate to a night upon which supernatural beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated or warded off by human wanderers".[66] From at least the 18th century, "imitating malignant spirits" led to playing pranks in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. Wearing costumes and playing pranks at Halloween spread to England in the 20th century.[66] Traditionally, pranksters used hollowed out turnips or mangel wurzels often carved with grotesque faces as lanterns.[66] By those who made them, the lanterns were variously said to represent the spirits,[66] or were used to ward off evil spirits.[70][71] They were common in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands in the 19th century,[66] as well as in Somerset (see Punkie Night). In the 20th century they spread to other parts of England and became generally known as jack-o'-lanterns.[66]
Christian influence
Today's Halloween customs are thought to have been influenced by Christian dogma and practices derived from it.[72] Halloween is the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows' Day (also known as All Saints' or Hallowmas) on 1 November and All Souls' Day on 2 November, thus giving the holiday on 31 October the full name of All Hallows' Eve (meaning the evening before All Hallows' Day).[73] Since the time of the early Church,[74] major feasts in Christianity (such as Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) had vigils that began the night before, as did the feast of All Hallows'.[75] These three days are collectively called Allhallowtide and are a time for honoring the saints and praying for the recently departed souls who have yet to reach Heaven. Commemorations of all saints and martyrs were held by several churches on various dates, mostly in springtime.[76] In 609, Pope Boniface IV re-dedicated the Pantheon in Rome to "St Mary and all martyrs" on 13 May. This was the same date as Lemuria, an ancient Roman festival of the dead, and the same date as the commemoration of all saints in Edessa in the time of Ephrem.[77]
The feast of All Hallows', on its current date in the Western Church, may be traced to Pope Gregory III's (731–741) founding of an oratory in St Peter's for the relics "of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and confessors".[78][79] In 835, All Hallows' Day was officially switched to 1 November, the same date as Samhain, at the behest of Pope Gregory IV.[80] Some suggest this was due to Celtic influence, while others suggest it was a Germanic idea,[80] although it is claimed that both Germanic and Celtic-speaking peoples commemorated the dead at the beginning of winter.[81] They may have seen it as the most fitting time to do so, as it is a time of 'dying' in nature.[80][81] It is also suggested that the change was made on the "practical grounds that Rome in summer could not accommodate the great number of pilgrims who flocked to it", and perhaps because of public health considerations regarding Roman Fever – a disease that claimed a number of lives during the sultry summers of the region.[82]
By the end of the 12th century they had become holy days of obligation across Europe and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for the souls in purgatory. In addition, "it was customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls."[84] "Souling", the custom of baking and sharing soul cakes for all christened souls,[85] has been suggested as the origin of trick-or-treating.[86] The custom dates back at least as far as the 15th century[87] and was found in parts of England, Flanders, Germany and Austria.[56] Groups of poor people, often children, would go door-to-door during Allhallowtide, collecting soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the dead, especially the souls of the givers' friends and relatives.[87][88][89] Soul cakes would also be offered for the souls themselves to eat,[56] or the 'soulers' would act as their representatives.[90] As with the Lenten tradition of hot cross buns, Allhallowtide soul cakes were often marked with a cross, indicating that they were baked as alms.[91] Shakespeare mentions souling in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593).[92] On the custom of wearing costumes, Christian minister Prince Sorie Conteh wrote: "It was traditionally believed that the souls of the departed wandered the earth until All Saints' Day, and All Hallows' Eve provided one last chance for the dead to gain vengeance on their enemies before moving to the next world. In order to avoid being recognized by any soul that might be seeking such vengeance, people would don masks or costumes to disguise their identities".[93]
It is claimed that in the Middle Ages, churches that were too poor to display the relics of martyred saints at Allhallowtide let parishioners dress up as saints instead.[94][95] Some Christians continue to observe this custom at Halloween today.[96] Lesley Bannatyne believes this could have been a Christianization of an earlier pagan custom.[97] While souling, Christians would carry with them "lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips".[98] It has been suggested that the carved jack-o'-lantern, a popular symbol of Halloween, originally represented the souls of the dead.[99] On Halloween, in medieval Europe, fires served a dual purpose, being lit to guide returning souls to the homes of their families, as well as to deflect demons from haunting sincere Christian folk.[100][101] Households in Austria, England and Ireland often had "candles burning in every room to guide the souls back to visit their earthly homes". These were known as "soul lights".[102][103][104] Many Christians in mainland Europe, especially in France, believed "that once a year, on Hallowe'en, the dead of the churchyards rose for one wild, hideous carnival" known as the danse macabre, which has often been depicted in church decoration.[105] Christopher Allmand and Rosamond McKitterick write in The New Cambridge Medieval History that "Christians were moved by the sight of the Infant Jesus playing on his mother's knee; their hearts were touched by the Pietà; and patron saints reassured them by their presence. But, all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all earthly things."[106] This danse macabre was enacted at village pageants and at court masques, with people "dressing up as corpses from various strata of society", and may have been the origin of modern-day Halloween costume parties.[98][107][95][108]
In parts of Britain, these customs came under attack during the Reformation as some Protestants berated purgatory as a "popish" doctrine incompatible with their notion of predestination. Thus, for some Nonconformist Protestants, the theology of All Hallows' Eve was redefined; without the doctrine of purgatory, "the returning souls cannot be journeying from Purgatory on their way to Heaven, as Catholics frequently believe and assert. Instead, the so-called ghosts are thought to be in actuality evil spirits. As such they are threatening."[103] Other Protestants maintained belief in an intermediate state, known as Hades (Bosom of Abraham),[109] and continued to observe the original customs, especially souling, candlelit processions and the ringing of church bells in memory of the dead.[73][110] Mark Donnelly, a professor of medieval archaeology, and historian Daniel Diehl, with regard to the evil spirits, on Halloween, write that "barns and homes were blessed to protect people and livestock from the effect of witches, who were believed to accompany the malignant spirits as they traveled the earth."[111] In the 19th century, in some rural parts of England, families gathered on hills on the night of All Hallows' Eve. One held a bunch of burning straw on a pitchfork while the rest knelt around him in a circle, praying for the souls of relatives and friends until the flames went out. This was known as teen'lay.[112] Other customs included the tindle fires in Derbyshire and all-night vigil bonfires in Hertfordshire which were lit to pray for the departed.[113] The rising popularity of Guy Fawkes Night (5 November) from 1605 onward, saw many Halloween traditions appropriated by that holiday instead, and Halloween's popularity waned in Britain, with the noteworthy exception of Scotland.[114] There and in Ireland, they had been celebrating Samhain and Halloween since at least the early Middle Ages, and the Scottish kirk took a more pragmatic approach to Halloween, seeing it as important to the life cycle and rites of passage of communities and thus ensuring its survival in the country.[114]
In France, some Christian families, on the night of All Hallows' Eve, prayed beside the graves of their loved ones, setting down dishes full of milk for them.[102] On Halloween, in Italy, some families left a large meal out for ghosts of their passed relatives, before they departed for church services.[115] In Spain, on this night, special pastries are baked, known as "bones of the holy" (Spanish: Huesos de Santo) and put them on the graves of the churchyard, a practice that continues to this day....
Lesley Bannatyne and Cindy Ott both write that Anglican colonists in the southern United States and Catholic colonists in Maryland "recognized All Hallow's Eve in their church calendars",[117][118] although the Puritans of New England maintained strong opposition to the holiday, along with other traditional celebrations of the established Church, including Christmas.[119] Almanacs of the late 18th and early 19th century give no indication that Halloween was widely celebrated in North America.[120] It was not until mass Irish and Scottish immigration in the 19th century that Halloween became a major holiday in North America.[120] Confined to the immigrant communities during the mid-19th century, it was gradually assimilated into mainstream society and by the first decade of the 20th century it was being celebrated coast to coast by people of all social, racial and religious backgrounds.[121] "In Cajun areas, a nocturnal Mass was said in cemeteries on Halloween night. Candles that had been blessed were placed on graves, and families sometimes spent the entire night at the graveside".[122] The yearly New York Halloween Parade, begun in 1974 by puppeteer and mask maker Ralph Lee of Greenwich Village, is the world's largest Halloween parade and America's only major nighttime parade, attracting more than 60,000 costumed participants, two million spectators, and a worldwide television audience of over 100 million....
Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. Jack-o'-lanterns are traditionally carried by guisers on All Hallows' Eve in order to frighten evil spirits.[99][124] There is a popular Irish Christian folktale associated with the jack-o'-lantern,[125] which in folklore is said to represent a "soul who has been denied entry into both heaven and hell":[126]
On route home after a night's drinking, Jack encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. A quick-thinking Jack etches the sign of the cross into the bark, thus trapping the Devil. Jack strikes a bargain that Satan can never claim his soul. After a life of sin, drink, and mendacity, Jack is refused entry to heaven when he dies. Keeping his promise, the Devil refuses to let Jack into hell and throws a live coal straight from the fires of hell at him. It was a cold night, so Jack places the coal in a hollowed out turnip to stop it from going out, since which time Jack and his lantern have been roaming looking for a place to rest.[127]
In Ireland and Scotland, the turnip has traditionally been carved during Halloween,[128][129] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which is both much softer and much larger – making it easier to carve than a turnip.[128] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837[130] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.[131]
The modern imagery of Halloween comes from many sources, including Christian eschatology, national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula) and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy).[132][133] Imagery of the skull, a reference to Golgotha in the Christian tradition, serves as "a reminder of death and the transitory quality of human life" and is consequently found in memento mori and vanitas compositions;[134] skulls have therefore been commonplace in Halloween, which touches on this theme.[135] Traditionally, the back walls of churches are "decorated with a depiction of the Last Judgment, complete with graves opening and the dead rising, with a heaven filled with angels and a hell filled with devils", a motif that has permeated the observance of this triduum.[136] One of the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne, who, in 1780, made note of pranks at Halloween; "What fearfu' pranks ensue!", as well as the supernatural associated with the night, "Bogies" (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns' "Halloween" (1785).[137] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween. Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, and mythical monsters.[138] Black, orange, and sometimes purple are Halloween's traditional colors....
Trick-or-treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween. Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy or sometimes money, with the question, "Trick or treat?" The word "trick" implies a "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.[86] The practice is said to have roots in the medieval practice of mumming, which is closely related to souling.[139] John Pymm writes that "many of the feast days associated with the presentation of mumming plays were celebrated by the Christian Church."[140] These feast days included All Hallows' Eve, Christmas, Twelfth Night and Shrove Tuesday.[141][142] Mumming practiced in Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe,[143] involved masked persons in fancy dress who "paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence".[144]
In England, from the medieval period,[145] up until the 1930s,[146] people practiced the Christian custom of souling on Halloween, which involved groups of soulers, both Protestant and Catholic,[110] going from parish to parish, begging the rich for soul cakes, in exchange for praying for the souls of the givers and their friends.[88] In the Philippines, the practice of souling is called Pangangaluwa and is practiced on All Hallow's Eve among children in rural areas.[21] People drape themselves in white cloths to represent souls and then visit houses, where they sing in return for prayers and sweets.[21]
In Scotland and Ireland, guising – children disguised in costume going from door to door for food or coins – is a traditional Halloween custom, and is recorded in Scotland at Halloween in 1895 where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[129][147] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[148]
American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book-length history of Halloween in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America".[149] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Halloween customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[150]
While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[151] The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, in the Blackie Herald Alberta, Canada.[152]
The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the turn of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but not trick-or-treating.[153] Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first US appearances of the term in 1934,[154] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[155]
A popular variant of trick-or-treating, known as trunk-or-treating (or Halloween tailgaiting), occurs when "children are offered treats from the trunks of cars parked in a church parking lot", or sometimes, a school parking lot.[116][156] In a trunk-or-treat event, the trunk (boot) of each automobile is decorated with a certain theme,[157] such as those of children's literature, movies, scripture, and job roles.[158] Trunk-or-treating has grown in popularity due to its perception as being more safe than going door to door, a point that resonates well with parents, as well as the fact that it "solves the rural conundrum in which homes [are] built a half-mile apart"....
Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after supernatural figures such as vampires, monsters, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. Over time, in the United States, the costume selection extended to include popular characters from fiction, celebrities, and generic archetypes such as ninjas and princesses.[86]
Dressing up in costumes and going "guising" was prevalent in Scotland and Ireland at Halloween by the late 19th century.[129] A Scottish term, the tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[147] In Ireland the masks are known as 'false faces'.[161] Costuming became popular for Halloween parties in the US in the early 20th century, as often for adults as for children. The first mass-produced Halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick-or-treating was becoming popular in the United States.
Eddie J. Smith, in his book Halloween, Hallowed is Thy Name, offers a religious perspective to the wearing of costumes on All Hallows' Eve, suggesting that by dressing up as creatures "who at one time caused us to fear and tremble", people are able to poke fun at Satan "whose kingdom has been plundered by our Saviour". Images of skeletons and the dead are traditional decorations used as memento mori.[162][163]
"Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" is a fundraising program to support UNICEF,[86] a United Nations Programme that provides humanitarian aid to children in developing countries. Started as a local event in a Northeast Philadelphia neighborhood in 1950 and expanded nationally in 1952, the program involves the distribution of small boxes by schools (or in modern times, corporate sponsors like Hallmark, at their licensed stores) to trick-or-treaters, in which they can solicit small-change donations from the houses they visit. It is estimated that children have collected more than $118 million for UNICEF since its inception. In Canada, in 2006, UNICEF decided to discontinue their Halloween collection boxes, citing safety and administrative concerns; after consultation with schools, they instead redesigned the program....
According to a 2018 report from the National Retail Federation, 30 million Americans will spend an estimated $480 million on Halloween costumes for their pets in 2018. This is up from an estimated $200 million in 2010. The most popular costumes for pets are the pumpkin, followed by the hot dog, and the bumble bee in third place....
There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween. Some of these games originated as divination rituals or ways of foretelling one's future, especially regarding death, marriage and children. During the Middle Ages, these rituals were done by a "rare few" in rural communities as they were considered to be "deadly serious" practices.[167] In recent centuries, these divination games have been "a common feature of the household festivities" in Ireland and Britain.[58] They often involve apples and hazelnuts. In Celtic mythology, apples were strongly associated with the Otherworld and immortality, while hazelnuts were associated with divine wisdom.[168] Some also suggest that they derive from Roman practices in celebration of Pomona.[86]
The following activities were a common feature of Halloween in Ireland and Britain during the 17th–20th centuries. Some have become more widespread and continue to be popular today. One common game is apple bobbing or dunking (which may be called "dooking" in Scotland)[169] in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use only their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drive the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a sticky face. Another once-popular game involves hanging a small wooden rod from the ceiling at head height, with a lit candle on one end and an apple hanging from the other. The rod is spun round and everyone takes turns to try to catch the apple with their teeth.[170]
Several of the traditional activities from Ireland and Britain involve foretelling one's future partner or spouse. An apple would be peeled in one long strip, then the peel tossed over the shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse's name.[171][172] Two hazelnuts would be roasted near a fire; one named for the person roasting them and the other for the person they desire. If the nuts jump away from the heat, it is a bad sign, but if the nuts roast quietly it foretells a good match.[173][174] A salty oatmeal bannock would be baked; the person would eat it in three bites and then go to bed in silence without anything to drink. This is said to result in a dream in which their future spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.[175] Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror.[176] However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards[177] from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
In Ireland and Scotland, items would be hidden in food – usually a cake, barmbrack, cranachan, champ or colcannon – and portions of it served out at random. A person's future would be foretold by the item they happened to find; for example, a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.[178]
Up until the 19th century, the Halloween bonfires were also used for divination in parts of Scotland, Wales and Brittany. When the fire died down, a ring of stones would be laid in the ashes, one for each person. In the morning, if any stone was mislaid it was said that the person it represented would not live out the year.[43]
Telling ghost stories and watching horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before Halloween, while new horror films are often released before Halloween to take advantage of the holiday....
Haunted attractions are entertainment venues designed to thrill and scare patrons. Most attractions are seasonal Halloween businesses that may include haunted houses, corn mazes, and hayrides,[179] and the level of sophistication of the effects has risen as the industry has grown.
The first recorded purpose-built haunted attraction was the Orton and Spooner Ghost House, which opened in 1915 in Liphook, England. This attraction actually most closely resembles a carnival fun house, powered by steam.[180][181] The House still exists, in the Hollycombe Steam Collection.
It was during the 1930s, about the same time as trick-or-treating, that Halloween-themed haunted houses first began to appear in America. It was in the late 1950s that haunted houses as a major attraction began to appear, focusing first on California. Sponsored by the Children's Health Home Junior Auxiliary, the San Mateo Haunted House opened in 1957. The San Bernardino Assistance League Haunted House opened in 1958. Home haunts began appearing across the country during 1962 and 1963. In 1964, the San Manteo Haunted House opened, as well as the Children's Museum Haunted House in Indianapolis.[182]
The haunted house as an American cultural icon can be attributed to the opening of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland on 12 August 1969.[183] Knott's Berry Farm began hosting its own Halloween night attraction, Knott's Scary Farm, which opened in 1973.[184] Evangelical Christians adopted a form of these attractions by opening one of the first "hell houses" in 1972.[185]
The first Halloween haunted house run by a nonprofit organization was produced in 1970 by the Sycamore-Deer Park Jaycees in Clifton, Ohio. It was cosponsored by WSAI, an AM radio station broadcasting out of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was last produced in 1982.[186] Other Jaycees followed suit with their own versions after the success of the Ohio house. The March of Dimes copyrighted a "Mini haunted house for the March of Dimes" in 1976 and began fundraising through their local chapters by conducting haunted houses soon after. Although they apparently quit supporting this type of event nationally sometime in the 1980s, some March of Dimes haunted houses have persisted until today.[187]
On the evening of 11 May 1984, in Jackson Township, New Jersey, the Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) caught fire. As a result of the fire, eight teenagers perished.[188] The backlash to the tragedy was a tightening of regulations relating to safety, building codes and the frequency of inspections of attractions nationwide. The smaller venues, especially the nonprofit attractions, were unable to compete financially, and the better funded commercial enterprises filled the vacuum.[189][190] Facilities that were once able to avoid regulation because they were considered to be temporary installations now had to adhere to the stricter codes required of permanent attractions.[191][192][193]
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, theme parks entered the business seriously. Six Flags Fright Fest began in 1986 and Universal Studios Florida began Halloween Horror Nights in 1991. Knott's Scary Farm experienced a surge in attendance in the 1990s as a result of America's obsession with Halloween as a cultural event. Theme parks have played a major role in globalizing the holiday. Universal Studios Singapore and Universal Studios Japan both participate, while Disney now mounts Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party events at its parks in Paris, Hong Kong and Tokyo, as well as in the United States.[194] The theme park haunts are by far the largest, both in scale and attendance....
On All Hallows' Eve, many Western Christian denominations encourage abstinence from meat, giving rise to a variety of vegetarian foods associated with this day.[196]
Because in the Northern Hemisphere Halloween comes in the wake of the yearly apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel apples or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.
At one time, candy apples were commonly given to trick-or-treating children, but the practice rapidly waned in the wake of widespread rumors that some individuals were embedding items like pins and razor blades in the apples in the United States.[197] While there is evidence of such incidents,[198] relative to the degree of reporting of such cases, actual cases involving malicious acts are extremely rare and have never resulted in serious injury. Nonetheless, many parents assumed that such heinous practices were rampant because of the mass media. At the peak of the hysteria, some hospitals offered free X-rays of children's Halloween hauls in order to find evidence of tampering. Virtually all of the few known candy poisoning incidents involved parents who poisoned their own children's candy.[199]
One custom that persists in modern-day Ireland is the baking (or more often nowadays, the purchase) of a barmbrack (Irish: báirín breac), which is a light fruitcake, into which a plain ring, a coin, and other charms are placed before baking.[200] It is considered fortunate to be the lucky one who finds it.[200] It has also been said that those who get a ring will find their true love in the ensuing year. This is similar to the tradition of king cake at the festival of Epiphany.
List of foods associated with Halloween:
Barmbrack (Ireland)
Bonfire toffee (Great Britain)
Candy apples/toffee apples (Great Britain and Ireland)
Candy apples, candy corn, candy pumpkins (North America)
Chocolate
Monkey nuts (peanuts in their shells) (Ireland and Scotland)
Caramel apples
Caramel corn
Colcannon (Ireland; see below)
Halloween cake
Sweets/candy
Novelty candy shaped like skulls, pumpkins, bats, worms, etc.
Roasted pumpkin seeds
Roasted sweet corn
Soul cakes...
On Hallowe'en (All Hallows' Eve), in Poland, believers were once taught to pray out loud as they walk through the forests in order that the souls of the dead might find comfort; in Spain, Christian priests in tiny villages toll their church bells in order to remind their congregants to remember the dead on All Hallows' Eve.[201] In Ireland, and among immigrants in Canada, a custom includes the Christian practice of abstinence, keeping All Hallows' Eve as a meat-free day, and serving pancakes or colcannon instead.[202] In Mexico children make an altar to invite the return of the spirits of dead children (angelitos).[203]
The Christian Church traditionally observed Hallowe'en through a vigil. Worshippers prepared themselves for feasting on the following All Saints' Day with prayers and fasting.[204] This church service is known as the Vigil of All Hallows or the Vigil of All Saints;[205][206] an initiative known as Night of Light seeks to further spread the Vigil of All Hallows throughout Christendom.[207][208] After the service, "suitable festivities and entertainments" often follow, as well as a visit to the graveyard or cemetery, where flowers and candles are often placed in preparation for All Hallows' Day.[209][210] In Finland, because so many people visit the cemeteries on All Hallows' Eve to light votive candles there, they "are known as valomeri, or seas of light".[211]
Today, Christian attitudes towards Halloween are diverse. In the Anglican Church, some dioceses have chosen to emphasize the Christian traditions associated with All Hallow's Eve.[212][213] Some of these practices include praying, fasting and attending worship services.[1][2][3]
O LORD our God, increase, we pray thee, and multiply upon us the gifts of thy grace: that we, who do prevent the glorious festival of all thy Saints, may of thee be enabled joyfully to follow them in all virtuous and godly living. Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. —Collect of the Vigil of All Saints, The Anglican Breviary[214]
Other Protestant Christians also celebrate All Hallows' Eve as Reformation Day, a day to remember the Protestant Reformation, alongside All Hallow's Eve or independently from it.[215][216] This is because Martin Luther is said to have nailed his Ninety-five Theses to All Saints' Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows' Eve.[217] Often, "Harvest Festivals" or "Reformation Festivals" are held on All Hallows' Eve, in which children dress up as Bible characters or Reformers.[218] In addition to distributing candy to children who are trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en, many Christians also provide gospel tracts to them. One organization, the American Tract Society, stated that around 3 million gospel tracts are ordered from them alone for Hallowe'en celebrations.[219] Others order Halloween-themed Scripture Candy to pass out to children on this day.[220][221]
Some Christians feel concerned about the modern celebration of Halloween because they feel it trivializes – or celebrates – paganism, the occult, or other practices and cultural phenomena deemed incompatible with their beliefs.[222] Father Gabriele Amorth, an exorcist in Rome, has said, "if English and American children like to dress up as witches and devils on one night of the year that is not a problem. If it is just a game, there is no harm in that."[223] In more recent years, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston has organized a "Saint Fest" on Halloween.[224] Similarly, many contemporary Protestant churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in their churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy for free. To these Christians, Halloween holds no threat to the spiritual lives of children: being taught about death and mortality, and the ways of the Celtic ancestors actually being a valuable life lesson and a part of many of their parishioners' heritage.[225] Christian minister Sam Portaro wrote that Halloween is about using "humor and ridicule to confront the power of death".[226]
In the Roman Catholic Church, Halloween's Christian connection is acknowledged, and Halloween celebrations are common in many Catholic parochial schools.[227][228] Many fundamentalist and evangelical churches use "Hell houses" and comic-style tracts in order to make use of Halloween's popularity as an opportunity for evangelism.[229] Others consider Halloween to be completely incompatible with the Christian faith due to its putative origins in the Festival of the Dead celebration.[230] Indeed, even though Eastern Orthodox Christians observe All Hallows' Day on the First Sunday after Pentecost, The Eastern Orthodox Church recommends the observance of Vespers or a Paraklesis on the Western observance of All Hallows' Eve, out of the pastoral need to provide an alternative to popular celebrations....
Analogous celebrations and perspectives
Judaism
According to Alfred J. Kolatch in the Second Jewish Book of Why, in Judaism, Halloween is not permitted by Jewish Halakha because it violates Leviticus 18:3, which forbids Jews from partaking in gentile customs. Many Jews observe Yizkor communally four times a year, which is vaguely similar to the observance of Allhallowtide in Christianity, in the sense that prayers are said for both "martyrs and for one's own family".[269] Nevertheless, many American Jews celebrate Halloween, disconnected from its Christian origins.[270] Reform Rabbi Jeffrey Goldwasser has said that "There is no religious reason why contemporary Jews should not celebrate Halloween" while Orthodox Rabbi Michael Broyde has argued against Jews' observing the holiday.[271] Purim has sometimes been compared to Halloween, in part due to some observants wearing costumes, especially of Biblical figures described in the Purim narrative.[272]
Islam
Sheikh Idris Palmer, author of A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, has ruled that Muslims should not participate in Halloween, stating that "participation in Halloween is worse than participation in Christmas, Easter, ... it is more sinful than congratulating the Christians for their prostration to the crucifix".[273] It has also been ruled to be haram by the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia because of its alleged pagan roots stating "Halloween is celebrated using a humorous theme mixed with horror to entertain and resist the spirit of death that influence humans".[274][275] Dar Al-Ifta Al-Missriyyah disagrees provided the celebration is not referred to as an 'eid' and that behaviour remains in line with Islamic principles.[276]
Hinduism
Hindus remember the dead during the festival of Pitru Paksha, during which Hindus pay homage to and perform a ceremony "to keep the souls of their ancestors at rest". It is celebrated in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada, usually in mid-September.[277] The celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali sometimes conflicts with the date of Halloween; but some Hindus choose to participate in the popular customs of Halloween.[278] Other Hindus, such as Soumya Dasgupta, have opposed the celebration on the grounds that Western holidays like Halloween have "begun to adversely affect our indigenous festivals".[279]
Neopaganism
There is no consistent rule or view on Halloween amongst those who describe themselves as Neopagans or Wiccans. Some Neopagans do not observe Halloween, but instead observe Samhain on 1 November,[280] some neopagans do enjoy Halloween festivities, stating that one can observe both "the solemnity of Samhain in addition to the fun of Halloween". Some neopagans are opposed to the celebration of Hallowe'en, stating that it "trivializes Samhain",[281] and "avoid Halloween, because of the interruptions from trick or treaters".[282] The Manitoban writes that "Wiccans don't officially celebrate Halloween, despite the fact that 31 Oct. will still have a star beside it in any good Wiccan's day planner. Starting at sundown, Wiccans celebrate a holiday known as Samhain. Samhain actually comes from old Celtic traditions and is not exclusive to Neopagan religions like Wicca. While the traditions of this holiday originate in Celtic countries, modern day Wiccans don't try to historically replicate Samhain celebrations. Some traditional Samhain rituals are still practised, but at its core, the period is treated as a time to celebrate darkness and the dead – a possible reason why Samhain can be confused with Halloween celebrations."
The traditions and importance of Halloween vary greatly among countries that observe it. In Scotland and Ireland, traditional Halloween customs include children dressing up in costume going "guising", holding parties, while other practices in Ireland include lighting bonfires, and having firework displays.[244][245] In Brittany children would play practical jokes by setting candles inside skulls in graveyards to frighten visitors.[246] Mass transatlantic immigration in the 19th century popularized Halloween in North America, and celebration in the United States and Canada has had a significant impact on how the event is observed in other nations. This larger North American influence, particularly in iconic and commercial elements, has extended to places such as Ecuador, Chile,[247] Australia,[248] New Zealand,[249] (most) continental Europe, Japan, and other parts of East Asia.[250] In the Philippines, during Halloween, Filipinos return to their hometowns and purchase candles and flowers,[251] in preparation for the following All Saints Day (Araw ng mga Patay) on 1 November and All Souls Day – though it falls on 2 November, most of them observe it on the day before.[252] In Mexico and Latin America in general, it is referred to as " Día de Muertos " which translates in English to "Day of the dead". Most of the people from Latin America construct altars in their homes to honor their deceased relatives and they decorate them with flowers and candies and other offerings.” (Wikipedia)
“Trick-or-treating is a Halloween ritual custom for children and adults in many countries. Children in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase "Trick or treat". The "treat" is usually some form of candy, although in some cultures money is used instead. The "trick" refers to a threat, usually idle, to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating usually occurs on the evening of October 31. Some homeowners signal that they are willing to hand out treats by putting up Halloween decorations outside their doors; others simply leave treats available on their porches for the children to take freely. Houses may also leave their porch light on as a universal indicator that they have candy.
In Britain and Ireland, the tradition of going house to house collecting food at Halloween goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as had the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween. In 19th century Britain and Ireland there are many accounts of people going house to house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed.[1] The Scottish Halloween custom of "guising" – children disguised in costume going from house to house for food or money;[2] – is first recorded in North America in 1911 in Ontario, Canada.[3] In North America, trick-or-treating has been a Halloween tradition since the 1920s. While going house to house in costume has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the custom of saying "trick or treat" has only recently become common. The activity is prevalent in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Puerto Rico, and northwestern and central Mexico. In the last, this practice is called calaverita (Spanish for "sugar skull"), and instead of "trick or treat", the children ask, "¿Me da mi calaverita?" ("Can you give me my sugar skull?"), where a calaverita is a small skull made of sugar or chocolate....
Traditions similar to the modern custom of trick-or-treating extend all the way back to classical antiquity, although it is extremely unlikely that any of them are directly related to the modern custom. The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis records in his book The Deipnosophists that, in ancient times, the Greek island of Rhodes had a custom in which children would go from door-to-door dressed as swallows, singing a song, which demanded the owners of the house to give them food and threatened to cause mischief if the owners of the house refused.[4][5][6] This tradition was claimed to have been started by the Rhodian lawgiver Cleobulus.
...
Since the Middle Ages, a tradition of mumming on a certain holiday has existed in parts of Britain and Ireland. It involved going door-to-door in costume, performing short scenes or parts of plays in exchange for food or drink. The custom of trick-or-treating on Halloween may come from the belief that supernatural beings, or the souls of the dead, roamed the earth at this time and needed to be appeased.
It may otherwise have originated in a Celtic festival, held on 31 October–1 November, to mark the beginning of winter. It was Samhain in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, and Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany. The festival is believed to have pre-Christian roots. In the 9th century, the Catholic Church made 1 November All Saints' Day. Among Celtic-speaking peoples, it was seen as a liminal time, when the spirits or fairies (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, came into our world and were appeased with offerings of food and drink. Similar beliefs and customs were found in other parts of Europe. It is suggested that trick-or-treating evolved from a tradition whereby people impersonated the spirits, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. S. V. Peddle suggests they "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".[8] Impersonating these spirits or souls was also believed to protect oneself from them.[9]
At least as far back as the 15th century, among Christians, there had been a custom of sharing soul-cakes at Allhallowtide (October 31 through November 2).[11][12] People would visit houses and take soul-cakes, either as representatives of the dead, or in return for praying for their souls.[13] Later, people went "from parish to parish at Halloween, begging soul-cakes by singing under the windows some such verse as this: 'Soul, souls, for a soul-cake; Pray you good mistress, a soul-cake!'"[14] They typically asked for "mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake".[15] It was known as 'Souling' and was recorded in parts of Britain, Flanders, southern Germany, and Austria.[16] Shakespeare mentions the practice in his comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas".[17]
The wearing of costumes, or "guising", at Hallowmas, had been recorded in Scotland in the 16th century[18] and was later recorded in other parts of Britain and Ireland.[19] There are many references to mumming, guising or souling at Halloween in Britain and Ireland during the late 18th century and the 19th century. In parts of southern Ireland, a man dressed as a Láir Bhán (white mare) led youths house to house reciting verses—some of which had pagan overtones—in exchange for food. If the household donated food it could expect good fortune from the 'Muck Olla', but if they refused to do so, it would bring misfortune.[20] In Scotland, youths went house to house in white with masked, painted or blackened faces, reciting rhymes and often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.[19][21][22] In parts of Wales, peasant men went house to house dressed as fearsome beings called gwrachod, or presenting themselves as the cenhadon y meirw (representatives of the dead).[19] In western England, mostly in the counties bordering Wales, souling was common.[12] According to one 19th century English writer "parties of children, dressed up in fantastic costume […] went round to the farm houses and cottages, signing a song, and begging for cakes (spoken of as "soal-cakes"), apples, money, or anything that the goodwives would give them".[23]
Guising at Halloween in Scotland is recorded in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[24] The practice of guising at Halloween in North America is first recorded in 1911, where a newspaper in Kingston, Ontario, Canada reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.[3]
American historian and author Ruth Edna Kelley of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the US; The Book of Hallowe'en (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America"; "The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using Burn's poem Hallowe'en as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now."[25] Kelley lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, a town with 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920.[26] In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic; "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".[27]
While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.[28]
The earliest known use in print of the term "trick or treat" appears in 1927, from Blackie, Alberta:
Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.[29]
The thousands of Halloween postcards produced between the start of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating.[30] The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes, "There are cards which mention the custom [of trick-or-treating] or show children in costumes at the doors, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them".[31]
Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first U.S. appearance of the term in 1932,[32] and the first use in a national publication occurring in 1939.[33]
Behavior similar to trick-or-treating was more commonly associated with Thanksgiving from 1870 (shortly after that holiday's formalization) until the 1930s. In New York City, a Thanksgiving ritual known as Ragamuffin Day involved children dressing up as beggars and asking for treats, which later evolved into dressing up in more diverse costumes.[34][35] Increasing hostility toward the practice in the 1930s eventually led to the begging aspects being dropped, and by the 1950s, the tradition as a whole had ceased.
Increased popularity[edit]
Almost all pre-1940 uses of the term "trick-or-treat" are from the United States and Canada. Trick-or-treating spread throughout the United States, stalled only by World War II sugar rationing that began in April, 1942 and lasted until June, 1947.[36][37]
Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October, 1947 issues of the children's magazines Jack and Jill and Children's Activities,[38] and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs The Baby Snooks Show in 1946 and The Jack Benny Show and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 1948.[39] Trick-or-treating was depicted in the Peanuts comic strip in 1951.[40] The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when Walt Disney portrayed it in the cartoon Trick or Treat, and Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show.[41] In 1953 UNICEF first conducted a national campaign for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating.[42]
Although some popular histories of Halloween have characterized trick-or-treating as an adult invention to re-channel Halloween activities away from Mischief Night vandalism, there are very few records supporting this. Des Moines, Iowa is the only area known to have a record of trick-or-treating being used to deter crime.[43] Elsewhere, adults, as reported in newspapers from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, typically saw it as a form of extortion, with reactions ranging from bemused indulgence to anger.[44] Likewise, as portrayed on radio shows, children would have to explain what trick-or-treating was to puzzled adults, and not the other way around. Sometimes even the children protested: for Halloween 1948, members of the Madison Square Boys Club in New York City carried a parade banner that read "American Boys Don't Beg."[45] The National Confectioners Association reported in 2005 that 80 percent of adults in the United States planned to give out confectionery to trick-or-treaters,[46] and that 93 percent of children, teenagers, and young adults planned to go trick-or-treating or participating in other Halloween activities.[47]
Phrase introduction to the UK and Ireland[edit]
Despite the concept of trick-or-treating originating in Britain and Ireland in the form of souling and guising, the use of the term "trick or treat" at the doors of homeowners was not common until the 1980s. Guising requires those going door-to-door to perform a song or poem without any jocular threat,[48] and according to one BBC journalist, in the 1980s, "trick or treat" was still often viewed as an exotic and not particularly welcome import, with the BBC referring to it as "the Japanese knotweed of festivals" and "making demands with menaces".[49] In Ireland before the phrase "trick or treat" became common, children would say "Help the Halloween Party". Very often, the phrase "trick or treat" is simply said and the revellers are given sweets, with the choice of a trick or a treat having been discarded….
Trick-or-treating typically happens between 5:30pm and 9:30pm[50] on October 31,[51] although some municipalities choose other dates.[52] Homeowners wishing to participate sometimes decorate their homes with artificial spider webs, plastic skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. While not every residence may be decorated for the holiday, those participating in the handing out of candy will opt to leave a porch light on to signify that the opportunity for candy is available. Some homeowners may go as far as asking trick-or-treaters for a "trick" before providing them with candy, while others simply leave the candy in bowls on the porch. In more recent years,[when?] participation has spread through whole neighborhoods, with children even visiting senior residences and condominiums….
Guising[edit]
In Scotland and Ireland, "guising" — children going from door to door in disguise — is traditional, and a gift in the form of food, coins or "apples or nuts for the Halloween party" (in more recent times chocolate) is given out to the children.[54][55] The tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.[2][56] In the West Mid Scots dialect, guising is known as "galoshans".[57] Halloween masks are referred to as ‘false faces’ in Ireland.[53] While guising has been recorded in Scotland in the 16th century, a more contemporary record of guising at Halloween in Scotland is in 1895, where masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.[24] Guising also involved going to wealthy homes, and in the 1920s, boys went guising at Halloween up to the affluent Thorntonhall, South Lanarkshire.[58] An account of guising in the 1950s in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, records a child receiving 12 shillings and sixpence, having knocked on doors throughout the neighborhood and performed.[48] Growing up in Derry, Northern Ireland in the 1960s, Michael Bradley recalls kids wearing their masks and costumes to go knocking on doors asking, “Any nuts or apples?”.[59]
There is a significant difference from the way the practice has developed in North America with the jocular threat. In Scotland and Ireland, the children are only supposed to receive treats if they perform a party trick for the households they go to. This normally takes the form of singing a song or reciting a joke or a funny poem which the child has memorised before setting out.[48] Occasionally a more talented child may do card tricks, play the mouth organ, or something even more impressive, but most children will earn plenty of treats even with something very simple. Often they won't even need to perform.[54] While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish at Halloween, the North American saying "trick-or-treat" has become common.
Trunk-or-Treat[edit]
Some organizations around the United States and Canada sponsor a "Trunk-or-Treat" on Halloween night (or on occasion, a day immediately preceding Halloween or a few days from it on a weekend, depending on what is convenient), where trick-or-treating is done from parked car to parked car in a local parking lot, often at a school or church. This annual event began in the mid-1990s as a "Fall Festival" for an alternative to trick-or-treating, but became "Trunk-or-Treat" two decades later. The activity involves the open trunk of a car, displaying candy, and often games and decorations. Some parents regard trunk-or-treating as a safer alternative to trick-or-treating;[60] while other parents see it as an easier alternative to walking the neighborhood with their children. Some have called for more city or community group-sponsored Trunk-or-Treats, so they can be more inclusive.[61] These have become increasingly popular in recent years.[62]
Other[edit]
Children of the St. Louis, Missouri area are expected to perform a joke, usually a simple Halloween-themed pun or riddle, before receiving any candy; this "trick" earns the "treat".[63] Children in Des Moines, Iowa also tell jokes or otherwise perform before receiving their treat.
In most areas where trick-or-treating is practiced, it is strictly meant for children. In fact, there are a diversity of opinions regarding when to end trick or treating, the most restrictive of which is age 12, the least restrictive at any age, and a common rule of thumb being "if you are old enough to drive a car you are too old to beg strangers for candy".[64] In both countries, it is expected that a teenager will transition into more mature expressions of celebrating the holiday, such as fancy dress, games, and diversions like bonfires and bobbing for apples, and sweets like caramel apples, and teenagers will often attend school or community events with a Halloween theme where there will be dancing and music.[65]
In some parts of Canada, children sometimes say "Halloween apples" instead of "trick or treat". This probably originated when the toffee apple was a popular type of candy. Apple-giving in much of Canada, however, has been taboo since the 1960s when stories (of almost certainly questionable authenticity) appeared of razors hidden inside Halloween apples; parents began to check over their children's "loot" for safety before allowing them to eat it. In Quebec, children also go door to door on Halloween. However, in French-speaking neighbourhoods, instead of "Trick or treat", they will simply say "Halloween", though it traditionally used to be "La charité, s'il-vous-plaît" ("Charity, please").[66]
In Portugal, children go from house to house in All Saints day and All Souls Day, carrying pumpkin carved lanterns called coca,[67] asking every one they see for Pão-por-Deus singing rhymes where they remind people why they are begging, saying "...It is for me and for you, and to give to the deceased who are dead and buried[...]"[68] or "[...]It is to share with your deceased [...]"[69] If a door is not open or the children don't get anything, they end their singing saying "[...]In this house smells like lard, here must live someone deceased". In the Azores the bread given to the children takes the shape of the top of a skull.[70] The tradition of pão-por-Deus was already recorded in the 15th century.[71] After this ritual begging, takes place the Magusto and big bonfires are lit with the "firewood of the souls". The young people play around smothering their faces with the ashes. The ritual begging for the deceased used to take place all over the year as in several regions the dead, those who were dear, were expected to arrive and take part in the major celebrations like Christmas and a plate with food or a seat at the table was always left for them.[72]
In Sweden, children dress up as witches and monsters when they go trick-or-treating on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) while Danish children dress up in various attires and go trick-or-treating on Fastelavn (or the next day, Shrove Monday). In Norway, "trick-or-treat" is called "knask eller knep", which means almost the same thing, although with the word order reversed, and the practice is quite common among children, who come dressed up to people's doors asking for, mainly, candy. Many Norwegians prepare for the event by consciously buying a small stock of sweets prior to it, to come in handy should any kids come knocking on the door, which is very probable in most areas. The Easter witch tradition is done on Palm Sunday in Finland (virvonta). In parts of Flanders and some parts of the Netherlands and most areas of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, children go to houses with homemade beet lanterns or with paper lanterns (which can hold a candle or electronic light), singing songs about St. Martin on St. Martin's Day (the 11th of November), in return for treats.[73] In Northern Germany and Southern Denmark, children dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating on New Year's Eve in a tradition called "Rummelpott [de]".” (wikipedia.org)
"A jack-o'-lantern (or jack o'lantern) is a carved pumpkin, turnip, or other root vegetable lantern[1] associated with Halloween. Its name comes from the phenomenon of a strange light flickering over peat bogs, called will-o'-the-wisp or jack-o'-lantern. The name is also tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a drunkard who bargains with Satan and is doomed to roam the Earth with only a hollowed turnip to light his way.
Jack-o'-lanterns are a yearly Halloween tradition that came to the United States from Irish immigrants. [2]
In a jack-o'-lantern, the top of the pumpkin or turnip is cut off to form a lid, the inside flesh is scooped out, and an image—usually a scary or funny face—is carved out of the rind to expose the hollow interior. To create the lantern effect, a light source, traditionally a flame such as a candle or tea light, is placed within before the lid is closed. However, artificial jack-'o-lanterns with electric lights are also marketed. It is common to see jack-o'-lanterns on doorsteps and otherwise used as decorations prior to and on Halloween....
Etymology[edit]
An assortment of carved pumpkins.
The term jack-o'-lantern was originally used to describe the visual phenomenon ignis fatuus (lit., "foolish fire") known as a will-o'-the-wisp in English folklore. Used especially in East England, its earliest known use dates to the 1660s.[3] The term "will-o'-the-wisp" uses "wisp" (a bundle of sticks or paper sometimes used as a torch) and the proper name "Will": thus, "Will-of-the-torch." The term jack o'lantern is of the same construction: "Jack of [the] lantern."
History[edit]
A traditional Irish Jack-o'-Lantern in the Museum of Country Life, Ireland.
Modern carving of a Cornish Jack-o'-Lantern made from a turnip.
Origin[edit]
The carving of vegetables has been a common practice in many parts of the world, and gourds were one of the earliest plant species farmed by humans c. 10,000 years ago.[4] For example, gourds were used to carve lanterns by the Māori over 700 years ago;[5] the Māori word for a gourd also describes a lampshade.[6]
It is believed that the custom of making jack-o'-lanterns at Hallowe'en time began in Ireland.[7][8][9] In the 19th century, "turnips or mangel wurzels, hollowed out to act as lanterns and often carved with grotesque faces," were used on Halloween in parts of Ireland and the Scottish Highlands.[10] In these Gaelic-speaking regions, Halloween was also the festival of Samhain and was seen as a time when supernatural beings (the Aos Sí), and the souls of the dead, walked the earth. Jack-o'-lanterns were also made at Halloween time in Somerset (see Punkie Night) during the 19th century.[10]
By those who made them, the lanterns were said to represent either spirits or supernatural beings,[10] or were used to ward off evil spirits.[11] For example, sometimes they were used by Halloween participants to frighten people,[11][12][13] and sometimes they were set on windowsills to keep harmful spirits out of one's home.[12] It has also been suggested that the jack-o'-lanterns originally represented Christian souls in purgatory, as Halloween is the eve of All Saints' Day (1 November)/All Souls' Day (2 November).[14]
On Halloween in 1835, the Dublin Penny Journal published a long story on the legend of "Jack-o'-the-Lantern".[15] In 1837, the Limerick Chronicle refers to a local pub holding a carved gourd competition and presenting a prize to "the best crown of Jack McLantern". The term "McLantern" also appears in an 1841 publication of the same paper.[16]
There is also evidence that turnips were used to carve what was called a "Hoberdy's Lantern" in Worcestershire, England, at the end of the 18th century. The folklorist Jabez Allies recalls[citation needed]:
In North America[edit]
Adaptations of Washington Irving's short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) often show the Headless Horseman with a pumpkin or jack-o'-lantern in place of his severed head. (In the original story, a shattered pumpkin is discovered next to Ichabod Crane's abandoned hat on the morning after Crane's supposed encounter with the Horseman.)
The application of the term to carved pumpkins in American English is first seen in 1834.[17] The carved pumpkin lantern's association with Halloween is recorded in the 1 November 1866 edition of the Daily News (Kingston, Ontario):
The old time custom of keeping up Hallowe'en was not forgotten last night by the youngsters of the city. They had their maskings and their merry-makings, and perambulated the streets after dark in a way which was no doubt amusing to themselves. There was a great sacrifice of pumpkins from which to make transparent heads and face, lighted up by the unfailing two inches of tallow candle.[18]
James Fenimore Cooper wrote a nautical novel titled The Jack O'lantern (le Feu-Follet), Or the Privateer (1842). The Jack O'lantern was the name of the ship.[19]
The poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was born in Massachusetts in 1807, wrote the poem "The Pumpkin" (1850):[20]
Oh!—fruit loved of boyhood!—the old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
Agnes Carr Sage, in the article, "Halloween Sports and Customs" (Harper's Young People (1885):[21]
It is an ancient British custom to light great bonfires (Bone-fire to clear before Winter froze the ground) on Hallowe'en, and carry blazing fagots about on long poles; but in place of this, American boys delight in the funny grinning jack-o'-lanterns made of huge yellow pumpkins with a candle inside.
In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became a symbol of Halloween.[22] In 1895, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities.[22][23]
Folklore[edit]
A commercial "R.I.P." pattern.
Halloween jack-o'-lantern.
Pumpkin projected onto the wall.
The story of the jack-o'-lantern comes in many forms and is similar to the story of Will-o'-the-wisp[24] retold in different forms across Western Europe,[25] including, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.[26] In Switzerland, children will leave bowls of milk or cream out for mythical house spirits called Jack o' the bowl.[27] An old Irish folk tale from the mid-18th century tells of Stingy Jack, a lazy yet shrewd blacksmith who uses a cross to trap Satan. One story says that Jack tricked Satan into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there, Jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that Satan couldn't get down.[28]
Another version[citation needed] of the story says that Jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen. He then met Satan, who claimed it was time for him to die. However, the thief stalled his death by tempting Satan with a chance to bedevil the church-going villagers chasing him. Jack told Satan to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods (Satan could take on any shape he wanted); later, when the coin (Satan) disappeared, the Christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. The Devil agreed to this plan. He turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into Jack's wallet, only to find himself next to a cross Jack had also picked up in the village. Jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the Devil of his powers; and so he was trapped.
In both folktales, Jack lets Satan go only after he agrees to never take his soul. Many years later, the thief died, as all living things do. Of course, Jack's life had been too sinful for him to go to heaven; however, Satan had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well.[29] Jack now had nowhere to go. He asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and Satan mockingly tossed him a burning coal, to light his way. Jack carved out one of his turnips (which were his favorite food), put the coal inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place.[30] He became known as "Jack of the Lantern", or jack o'lantern.
Cornish folklorist Dr. Thomas Quiller Couch (d. 1884) recorded the use of the term in a rhyme used in Polperro, Cornwall, in conjunction with Joan the Wad, the Cornish version of Will-o'-the-wisp. The people of Polperro regarded them both as pixies. The rhyme goes:[31]
Jack o' the lantern! Joan the wad,
Who tickled the maid and made her mad
Light me home, the weather's bad.
Jack-o-lanterns were also a way of protecting one's home against the undead. Superstitious people[32] used them specifically to ward off vampires. They thought this because it was said that the jack-o-lantern's light was a way of identifying vampires who, once their identity was known, would give up their hunt for you.
Pumpkin craft[edit]
A jack-o'-lantern
Sections of the pumpkin or turnip are cut out to make holes, often depicting a face, which may be either cheerful, scary, or comical.[33] Complex carvings (or paintings on the gourds) are becoming more common such as: figures, logos, and symbols. A variety of tools can be used to carve and hollow out the gourd, ranging from simple knives and spoons to specialized instruments, typically sold in holiday sections of North American grocery stores. Printed stencils can be used as a guide for increasingly complex designs. After carving, a light source (such as a flame candle, electric candle, or tea light) is placed inside the gourd, and the top is put back into place. The source is normally inserted to light the design from the inside and add an extra measure of spookiness. Sometimes a chimney is carved, too. It is possible to create surprisingly artistic designs, either simple or intricate in nature....
World records
For a long time, Keene, New Hampshire, held the world record for most jack-o'-lanterns carved and lit in one place. The Life is Good Company teamed up with Camp Sunshine,[32] a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, to break the record. A record was set on October 21, 2006, when 30,128 jack-o'-lanterns were simultaneously lit on Boston Common in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.[33] Highwood, Illinois, tried to set the record on October 31, 2011, with an unofficial count of 30,919 but did not follow the Guinness regulations, so the achievement did not count.[34]
On October 19, 2013, Keene broke the Boston record and reclaimed the world record for most lit jack-o'-lanterns on display (30,581). The town has now broken the record eight times since the original attemp" (wikipedia.org)
"Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera;[a] with their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more manoeuvrable than birds, flying with their very long spread-out digits covered with a thin membrane or patagium. The smallest bat, and arguably the smallest extant mammal, is Kitti's hog-nosed bat, which is 29–34 mm (1.14–1.34 in) in length, 150 mm (5.91 in) across the wings and 2–2.6 g (0.07–0.09 oz) in mass. The largest bats are the flying foxes and the giant golden-crowned flying fox, Acerodon jubatus, which can weigh 1.6 kg (4 lb) and have a wingspan of 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in).
The second largest order of mammals after rodents, bats comprise about 20% of all classified mammal species worldwide, with over 1,200 species. These were traditionally divided into two suborders: the largely fruit-eating megabats, and the echolocating microbats. But more recent evidence has supported dividing the order into Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, with megabats as members of the former along with several species of microbats. Many bats are insectivores, and most of the rest are frugivores (fruit-eaters). A few species feed on animals other than insects; for example, the vampire bats feed on blood. Most bats are nocturnal, and many roost in caves or other refuges; it is uncertain whether bats have these behaviours to escape predators. Bats are present throughout the world, with the exception of extremely cold regions. They are important in their ecosystems for pollinating flowers and dispersing seeds; many tropical plants depend entirely on bats for these services.
Bats provide humans with some benefits, at the cost of some threats. Bat dung has been mined as guano from caves and used as fertiliser. Bats consume insect pests, reducing the need for pesticides. They are sometimes numerous enough to serve as tourist attractions, and are used as food across Asia and the Pacific Rim. They are natural reservoirs of many pathogens, such as rabies; and since they are highly mobile, social, and long-lived, they can readily spread disease. In many cultures, bats are popularly associated with darkness, malevolence, witchcraft, vampires, and death...,
Etymology
An older English name for bats is flittermouse, which matches their name in other Germanic languages (for example German Fledermaus and Swedish fladdermus), related to the fluttering of wings. Middle English had bakke, most likely cognate with Old Swedish natbakka ("night-bat"), which may have undergone a shift from -k- to -t- (to Modern English bat) influenced by Latin blatta, "moth, nocturnal insect". The word "bat" was probably first used in the early 1570s.[2][3] The name "Chiroptera" derives from Ancient Greek: χείρ – cheir, "hand"[4] and πτερόν – pteron, "wing".[1][5]
Phylogeny and taxonomy
The early Eocene fossil microchiropteran Icaronycteris, from the Green River Formation
Evolution
The delicate skeletons of bats do not fossilise well, and it is estimated that only 12% of bat genera that lived have been found in the fossil record.[6] Most of the oldest known bat fossils were already very similar to modern microbats, such as Archaeopteropus (32 million years ago).[7] The extinct bats Palaeochiropteryx tupaiodon (48 million years ago) and Hassianycteris kumari (55 million years ago) are the first fossil mammals whose colouration has been discovered: both were reddish-brown.[8][9]
Bats were formerly grouped in the superorder Archonta, along with the treeshrews (Scandentia), colugos (Dermoptera), and primates.[10] Modern genetic evidence now places bats in the superorder Laurasiatheria, with its sister taxon as Fereuungulata, which includes carnivorans, pangolins, odd-toed ungulates, even-toed ungulates, and cetaceans.[11][12][13][14][15] One study places Chiroptera as a sister taxon to odd-toed ungulates (Perissodactyla)....
The phylogenetic relationships of the different groups of bats have been the subject of much debate. The traditional subdivision into Megachiroptera and Microchiroptera reflected the view that these groups of bats had evolved independently of each other for a long time, from a common ancestor already capable of flight. This hypothesis recognised differences between microbats and megabats and acknowledged that flight has evolved only once in mammals. Most molecular biological evidence supports the view that bats form a natural or monophyletic group....
Genetic evidence indicates that megabats originated during the early Eocene, and belong within the four major lines of microbats.[15] Two new suborders have been proposed; Yinpterochiroptera includes the Pteropodidae, or megabat family, as well as the families Rhinolophidae, Hipposideridae, Craseonycteridae, Megadermatidae, and Rhinopomatidae.[18] Yangochiroptera includes the other families of bats (all of which use laryngeal echolocation), a conclusion supported by a 2005 DNA study.[18] A 2013 phylogenomic study supported the two new proposed suborders....
In the 1980s, a hypothesis based on morphological evidence stated the Megachiroptera evolved flight separately from the Microchiroptera. The flying primate hypothesis proposed that, when adaptations to flight are removed, the Megachiroptera are allied to primates by anatomical features not shared with Microchiroptera. For example, the brains of megabats have advanced characteristics. Although recent genetic studies strongly support the monophyly of bats,[7] debate continues about the meaning of the genetic and morphological evidence.[19]
The 2003 discovery of an early fossil bat from the 52 million year old Green River Formation, Onychonycteris finneyi, indicates that flight evolved before echolocative abilities.[20][21] Onychonycteris had claws on all five of its fingers, whereas modern bats have at most two claws on two digits of each hand. It also had longer hind legs and shorter forearms, similar to climbing mammals that hang under branches, such as sloths and gibbons. This palm-sized bat had short, broad wings, suggesting that it could not fly as fast or as far as later bat species. Instead of flapping its wings continuously while flying, Onychonycteris probably alternated between flaps and glides in the air.[7] This suggests that this bat did not fly as much as modern bats, but flew from tree to tree and spent most of its time climbing or hanging on branches.[22] The distinctive features of the Onychonycteris fossil also support the hypothesis that mammalian flight most likely evolved in arboreal locomotors, rather than terrestrial runners. This model of flight development, commonly known as the "trees-down" theory, holds that bats first flew by taking advantage of height and gravity to drop down on to prey, rather than running fast enough for a ground-level take off.[23][24]
The molecular phylogeny was controversial, as it pointed to microbats not having a unique common ancestry, which implied that some seemingly unlikely transformations occurred. The first is that laryngeal echolocation evolved twice in bats, once in Yangochiroptera and once in the rhinolophoids.[25] The second is that laryngeal echolocation had a single origin in Chiroptera, was subsequently lost in the family Pteropodidae (all megabats), and later evolved as a system of tongue-clicking in the genus Rousettus.[26] Analyses of the sequence of the vocalization gene FoxP2 were inconclusive on whether laryngeal echolocation was lost in the pteropodids or gained in the echolocating lineages.[27] Echolocation probably first derived in bats from communicative calls. The Eocene bats Icaronycteris (52 million years ago) and Palaeochiropteryx had cranial adaptations suggesting an ability to detect ultrasound. This may have been used at first mainly to forage on the ground for insects and map out their surroundings in their gliding phase, or for communicative purposes. After the adaptation of flight was established, it may have been refined to target flying prey by echolocation.[22] Bats may have evolved echolocation through a shared common ancestor, in which case it was then lost in the Old World megabats, only to be regained in the horseshoe bats; or, echolocation evolved independently in both the Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera lineages.[28] Analyses of the hearing gene Prestin seem to favour the idea that echolocation developed independently at least twice, rather than being lost secondarily in the pteropodids,[29] but ontogenic analysis of the cochlea supports that laryngeal echolocation evolved only once.[30]
Classification
See also: List of bats and List of fruit bats
Bats are placental mammals. After rodents, they are the largest order, making up about 20% of mammal species.[31] In 1758, Carl Linnaeus classified the seven bat species he knew of in the genus Vespertilio in the order Primates. Around twenty years later, the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach gave them their own order, Chiroptera.[32] Since then, the number of described species has risen to over 1,200, traditionally classified as two suborders: Megachiroptera (megabats), and Microchiroptera (microbats/echolocating bats).[33] Not all megabats are larger than microbats.[34] Several characteristics distinguish the two groups. Microbats use echolocation for navigation and finding prey, but megabats apart from those in the genus Rousettus do not, relying instead on their eyesight.[35] Accordingly, megabats have a well-developed visual cortex and good visual acuity.[33] Megabats have a claw on the second finger of the forelimb.[36][37] The external ears of microbats do not close to form a ring; the edges are separated from each other at the base of the ear.[37] Megabats eat fruit, nectar, or pollen, while most microbats eat insects; others feed on fruit, nectar, pollen, fish, frogs, small mammals, or blood." (wikipedia.org)
"A letter box, letterbox, letter plate, letter hole, mail slot or mailbox is a receptacle for receiving incoming mail at a private residence or business. For the opposite purpose of collecting outgoing mail, a post box is generally used instead. Letterboxes or mailboxes use the following primary designs:
A slot in a wall or door through which mail is delivered (through-door delivery)
A box attached directly to the building (direct-to-door delivery)
A box mounted at or near the street (curbside delivery)
A centralised mail delivery station consisting of individual mailboxes for an entire building
A centralised mail delivery station consisting of individual mailboxes for multiple recipients at multiple addresses in a particular neighborhood or community...
Styles and usage[edit]
A "letter box", or "mail slot" in American and Canadian usage, is a slot, usually horizontal but sometimes vertical, about 30 cm by 5 cm (12 inches by 2 inches), cut through the middle or lower half of a front door. This style is almost universal in British homes and offices, but in the US is limited primarily to urban areas. Most are covered by a flap or seal on the outside for weatherproofing. The flap may be closed by gravity, or sprung to prevent it opening and closing noisily in the wind. Some letterboxes also have a second flap on the inside to provide further protection from the elements. There may also be a small cage or box mounted on the inside of the door to receive the delivered mail. Mail slots are limited to receiving incoming mail, as most have no provision for securing and protecting outgoing mail for pickup by the mail carrier. (Sending mail from private addresses is not possible in the UK in any case, since the Royal Mail does not provide such a service.)
A black rectangular mailbox attached to the outside of a house. There is a doorbell above and to the left of the mailbox.
An attached or wall-mount letterbox, with a hook underneath for newspapers
Wall-mounted or attached mailboxes may also be used in place of mail slots, usually located close to the front door of the residence. They are known as "full-service" mailboxes when they have provisions for securing outgoing as well as incoming mail. Attached wall-mounted mailboxes are still used in older urban and suburban neighbourhoods in North America. They are especially common in urban and suburban areas of Canada, where the curbside mailbox is rarely seen except in rural areas. Attached mailboxes are less common in newer urban and suburban developments and in rural areas of the United States, where curbside delivery or delivery to a community mail station (cluster mailbox, known as a bank of post boxes in the UK) is generally used.
Rural and some suburban areas of North America may utilize curbside mailboxes, also known as rural mailboxes. These receptacles generally consist of a large metal box mounted on a support designed primarily to receive large quantities of incoming mail, often with an attached flag to signal the presence of outgoing mail to the mail carrier. In the US and Canada, rural curbside mailboxes may be found grouped together at property boundaries or road/driveway intersections, depending upon conditions. Although the United States Postal Service (USPS) has general regulations stating the distance a letter box may be from the road surface, these requirements may be changed by the local postmaster according to local environment and road conditions.[1]
At one time, nearly 843,000 rural Canadian residents used rural (curbside) mailboxes for private mail delivery, though Canada Post has since required the installation of community mailbox stations for many rural residents.[2]
In the US, wall-mounted or curbside mailboxes that are only designed for receiving incoming mail are known as "limited-service" mailboxes, while mailboxes equipped with a mechanism for notifying the postman to collect outgoing mail from the mailbox are known as "full service" mailboxes.
A number of designs of letterboxes and mailboxes have been patented, particularly in the United States. One design was the visible mailbox (because it was made of transparent glass) with a flip-up aluminium lid produced during the first part of the 20th century by George F. Collins of the Barlet-Collins Glass Company in Sapulpa, Oklahoma.[3][4]
Letter box standards and construction...
The European standard for letter boxes, EN 13724:2002 "Postal services – Apertures of private letter boxes and letter plates – Requirements and test methods", replaces earlier national standards such as BS 2911:1974 "Specification for letter plates" or DIN 32617. It specifies among other things:
Envelope size C4 (229 mm × 324 mm) must be deliverable without bending or damage
The internal volume must able to hold at least a 40 mm high bundle of C4 envelopes
Aperture width of either 230–280 mm (> C4 width) or 325–400 mm (> C4 height)
Aperture height of 30–35 mm
Mounting height of between 0.7 and 1.7 m for the aperture
When positioned externally, the post box should not allow more than 1% total capacity water ingress from natural precipitation or moisture causes.
Various privacy, theft-protection, vandalism resistance and corrosion-resistance test requirements
This Standard is voluntary. It was developed by a German mail boxes manufacturer Burg Wächter and it reflects this manufacturer's technical capability and commercial interests with a number of the specifications unfounded, for example, aperture dimensions or internal volume, while the vital issues of security, energy saving, and environmental issues of a property and the occupants are not addressed in the Standard.
Although the Standard was due for a review after 5 years in 2007, this did not happen. In April 2013 the amended Standard BS EN 13724:2013 was finally published, however, again it was drafted by the same company and is nearly word-for-word copy of the old EN 13724:2002 Standard. The essential amendments (especially important for the UK) were not included again and the interests of security, energy saving and wellbeing of the public were not addressed.
Canada[edit]
For those neighbourhoods where mail delivery is to a mail slot, the mail slot must have an opening not less than 17.5 cm by 4 cm, and must be located in a front door or adjacent panel not more than 125 cm and not less than 60 cm from the finished floor line.[5] Wall-mounted mailboxes equipped with a slot must have a slot opening measurement not less than 13.5 cm by 4 cm and the slot located on or near the top of the box.[5]
Curbside mailboxes, known in Canada as rural mailboxes, must be weatherproof, have space for the name of the mailbox owner, and possess a signal device on the right-hand side (when facing the front of the mailbox) for pickup of outgoing mail.[5] The signal device must rise above the mailbox and be visible at a distance, and must not obscure the mailbox owner's name or impede vehicular or pedestrian traffic.[5] Canada Post requires all rural mailboxes to have a minimum interior dimensions of 45 cm in length by 17.5 cm in width by 17.5 cm in height for a rectangular mailbox, and 45 cm in length by 25 cm in diameter in the case of a cylindrical mailbox.[5]
United States[edit]
A plastic mailbox in Jacksonville, Florida, US
The US Post Office has established guidelines for mail recipients, including mail slot or mailbox size, location, and identification requirements.[1][6] While the Post Office permitted alternative designs for attached mailboxes and mail slots that met basic size and construction requirements, the same was not true for curbside mailboxes, which postal regulations required be in the form of the traditional dome-rectangular or 'tunnel-top' design first established in 1915. In 1978, seven years after the establishment of the restructured US Postal Service, postal authorities at last approved a "contemporary" mailbox specification for alternative designs.
Currently, US curbside mailboxes are classified as (T) Traditional, (C) Contemporary, or (L) Locking.[7] Traditional or Contemporary non-locking curbside mailboxes are approved in three sizes - No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3, measured by minimum interior dimensions.[7] The largest acceptable curbside mailbox is the No. 3, which measures 22.81 inches long, 11 inches wide, and 15 inches in height (58 cm x 28 cm x 38 cm) at the peak.[7] Locking mailbox designs that provide security for the recipient's incoming mail have fewer restrictions on shape and size, though designs with a slot for incoming mail must be at least 1.75 inches high by 10 inches wide.[7] Residential locking mailboxes cannot require the postal carrier to have a key, by USPS Specifications.[8] Therefore, no USPS approved residential locking mailbox has secure outgoing mail. Installation requirements vary from standard unlocked mailboxes: with locking mailboxes, the incoming mail slot must be 41"-45" above the roadside surface, and the front of the mailbox must be 6"-8" back from the curb.[9] USPS specifications for all mailboxes mandate the same, except the placement of the 'incoming mail area' varies with a locking mailbox.[10]
Environmental conditions[edit]
External or curbside letter boxes are not temperature-controlled, and this can sometimes be a concern for temperature-sensitive products such as pharmaceuticals, live plants or other organisms, or chocolate candies. Conditions can include high or low temperatures outside of the recommended storage conditions for certain products. For example, the USFDA found that the temperature in a steel mailbox painted black could reach 136 °F (58 °C) in full sun while the ambient air temperature was 101 °F (38 °C).[11]
Security[edit]
There is a recommendation to have a lock on the letter box, if it is not built into a lockable door. Unlocked letter boxes are often used for identity theft, including the ordering of something valuable which is then stolen from the unlocked box. By policy, the USPS will not deliver mail to an unlocked or unsecured box which is located at a centralized mailbox installation.[12]
History[edit]
A 19th-century slot letterbox in the town of Wormgate, Lincolnshire UK
Europe[edit]
Private letterboxes or mail slots did not become popular in most of Europe until the mid to late 19th century, although they were used in Paris from the late 18th century.
In 1849, the Royal Mail first encouraged people to install letterboxes to facilitate the delivery of mail. Before then, letterboxes of a similar design had been installed in the doors and walls of post offices for people to drop off outgoing mail. An example of such a wall box (originally installed in the wall of the Wakefield Post Office) is dated 1809 and believed to be the oldest example in Britain. It is now on display at the new Wakefield Museum.
North America[edit]
US Rural Free Mail Delivery to curbside mailbox, circa 1905
In 1863, with the creation of Free City Delivery, the US Post Office Department began delivering mail to home addresses.
Until 1916, mail carriers knocked on the door and waited patiently for someone to answer.[13] Efficiency experts estimated that each mailman lost over 1.5 hours each day just waiting for patrons to come to the door.[14] To correct this problem, the Post Office Department ordered that every household must have a mail box or letter slot in order to receive mail.[13] This requirement was phased in, starting with new delivery locations, around 1912.[15]:20 Slowly, homeowners and businesses began to install mail slots or attached mailboxes to receive mail when they were either not at home or unable to answer the door. The requirement was made mandatory in 1923.[15]:21
As early as the 1880s, the Post Office had begun to encourage homeowners to attach wall-mounted mailboxes to the outside of their houses in lieu of mail slots. Mounted at the height of a standing man, attached mailboxes did not require the mail carrier to lean over to deposit the mail. They also allowed the homeowner to keep outgoing mail dry while awaiting pickup by the mail carrier.[13]
To reduce the time required for the mail carrier to complete delivery when the front door of a home was located some distance from the street, it was proposed that individual mail boxes for residential or business customers be mounted curbside on fence-posts, lamp-posts, or other supports. While this idea was rejected for city mail delivery, it was adopted for rural areas. Curbside mailboxes located on a rural route or road and sited at the intersection of the road with each recipient's carriageway or private drive allowed limited numbers of mail carriers to deliver mail to many widely scattered farms and ranches in a single day using horse-drawn wagons or later on, motor vehicles.
Before the introduction of rural free delivery (RFD) by the Post Office in 1896,[16] and in Canada in 1908,[17] many rural residents had no access to the mail unless they collected it at a post office located many miles from their homes or hired a private express company to deliver it. For this reason, mailboxes did not become popular in rural North America until curbside RFD mail delivery by the Post Office was an established service. Even then, farmers and rural homeowners at first resisted the purchase of dedicated mailboxes, preferring to leave empty bushel baskets, tin boxes, or wooden crates at the roadside for the postman to deposit their mail.[14][16] Not until 1923 did the Post Office finally mandate that every household install a mailbox or mail slot in order to receive home delivery of mail.[14]
Originally designed only for incoming mail delivery, curbside mailboxes were soon fitted with a semaphore or signal flag mounted on an attached arm to signal the postman to pickup outgoing mail.[16] Originally, this flag was raised not only by the resident of the property to signal the postman of outgoing mail, but also by the postman to inform the recipient that incoming mail had been delivered - a convenience to all during periods of freezing or inclement weather.[18][19]
Since 1923, in order to promote uniformity, as well as the convenient and rapid delivery of the mail, the United States Post Office Department (later the USPS) has continued to retain authority to approve the size and other characteristics of all mail receptacles, whether mailboxes or mail slots, for use in delivery of the mails. The USPS continues to issue specifications for curbside mailbox construction for use by manufacturers. Approved mailboxes from the latter are always stamped "U.S. Mail" and "Approved by the Postmaster General". These standards have resulted in limitations on product diversity and design, though new materials, shapes, and features have appeared in recent years.[1][20][7][21]
After World War II, postwar suburban home construction expanded dramatically in the United States, along with mail volume. By the 1960s, many new suburban homes were considerably larger and located on larger lots, yet most still used mail slots or attached wall-mounted mailboxes. This development caused a substantial increase in distances walked by the mail carrier, slowing mail delivery while increasing labor costs. In order to reduce delivery times and increase efficiency, the Post Office began requiring all new suburban developments to install curbside mailboxes in place of door-to-door delivery, allowing mail carriers to remain in the vehicle while delivering the mail. In 1978, the USPS (successor to the Post Office) declared that every new development must have either curbside delivery or centralized mail delivery.
Joroleman mailbox[edit]
In 1915, the familiar curbside Jorolemon mailbox, named after its designer, Post Office employee Roy J. Jorolemon, was approved by the Post Office.[16] Jorolemon, who held a degree in mechanical engineering, designed his mailbox with an unusual dome-rectangular shape, incorporating a curved, tunnel-shaped roof, latching door, and rotating semaphore flag.[16][20][22] The Joroleman mailbox has been praised as a manifestation of American functionalist industrial design.[citation needed]
Constructed of light-gauge painted sheet steel, Jorolemon designed his mailbox with an arched, tunnel-shape roof, which prevented excessive accumulation of rainwater or snow while resisting deformation. The tunnel top also simplified the process of mass production by eliminating the need for precise sheet metal bends. Stamped and formed metal straps riveted to the arched opening and the mailbox door served as a door latching mechanism, while a rotating red semaphore flag mounted on a shaft attached to the side of the mailbox served to signal the approaching mailman if there was outgoing mail inside. Fitted with a crimped or braze-on rear steel panel and a false floor to keep its contents dry in inclement or humid weather, the Jorolemon mailbox required only two rivets, three axle bolts, and four screws and nuts for completion. Durable and inexpensive, the popularity of the Jorolemon mailbox was further enhanced by a decision not to patent the design, but to make its specifications known to all potential manufacturers for competitive sale.[16] Adopted across the United States, it has remained the top-selling mailbox since its introduction, and was also widely used in Canada prior to that country's decision to eliminate individual curbside delivery to rural residents.
The Jorolemon mailbox was originally approved for manufacture in one size, the No. 1, which could accommodate letter mail, periodicals, newspapers, catalogs, and small parcels.[16] After July 1, 1916, the Jorolemon mailbox would be the only design approved by the Post Office for new curbside mailbox installations. In July 1929, the Post Office approved specifications for a larger Jorolemon mailbox known as the No. 2.[16] The No. 2 mailbox, soon followed by the still-larger No. 3, could accept larger parcels and packages sent via Parcel Post; these large boxes proved particularly popular with rural mail recipients, who could order manufactured goods by mail for delivery to the farm or ranch.[16]
Jorolemon curbside mailbox with red semaphore flag. When raised, the flag indicates outgoing mail.
An oversize rural Jorolemon mailbox in southern Nebraska, featuring a red semaphore arm
Close up of a Jorolemon mailbox door with latch in Washington State
South America[edit]
On the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, a post barrel on the island Floreana has been in use for a number of years, for both incoming and outgoing mail. The island is remote; mail delivery is erratic and can be very slow.[23]
Recent developments[edit]
A number of letterboxes beside an electronic keyreader. A hand is holding an electronic key up to the reader, and one of the boxes is automatically opening.
An automated-opening letterbox mail station for an "intelligent" apartment building in Falun, Sweden
Europe[edit]
Sweden[edit]
KopparStaden AB, a housing cooperative in Falun, Sweden, has begun to install centralized mail stations with individual letterboxes using electronically operated doors in its buildings.[24]
United Kingdom[edit]
Many designs of mailboxes have been created during recent years with products suitable for both multi-occupancy residences (typically tower block private accommodation properties) and individual homes.
Deliveries of mail are typically made in to the mailbox through an aperture opening (an entry hole in the mailbox), where it drops into a secured compartment. The deposited items can only be retrieved an individual using a coded key (designed to work only with that particular coded lock), or by entering a number sequence via a combination lock. Electronic locks can also be used with mailboxes but they must be used in an internal location due to their vulnerability to inclement weather in the United Kingdom.
Mailboxes are commonly manufactured using Zintec Steel, Aluminium, Stainless Steel or Galvanised Steel, and then powder coated to meet the design requirements of the mail recipient. Mailboxes can also be manufactured using materials including Cast Iron and Plastic, but these are less commonly seen in the United Kingdom.
Mailboxes all come with an aperture opening, which allows for the potential of vandalism or theft of deposited mail, but additional items are available to help reduce this including aperture restrictors, which allow for the recipient to adjust the opening on their mailboxes and set it as they see fit.
In multi-occupancy developments, mailboxes are commonly ‘banked’ into a collection of mailboxes, allowing for delivery personnel to deposited items in a single location, rather than having to travel to each individual door to deliver mail. These banks of mailboxes are often used in new construction developments in place of letter openings in the property doors.
A photograph of a bank of wall mounted post boxes used in a private residence in the United Kingdom.
A bank of wall mounted post boxes used outside of a property entrance door in the United Kingdom.
United States[edit]
Numerous designs of mailboxes with improved construction and security have been patented in recent years, particularly in the United States.[25] In 2001, the USPS first approved designs for locking curbside mailboxes to stem a rise in identity and mail theft.[1] With these secure designs, the incoming mail is placed into a slot or hopper by the mail carrier, where it drops into a secure locked compartment for retrieval by only the homeowner (who retains a key or combination to the lock). Locking mailboxes are generally constructed of heavy-gauge steel or aluminum plate, though some models are made of roto-moulded polymer plastic.[20]
Because of the increased risk of vandalism to curbside mailboxes, numerous vandal-resistant boxes made of composite plastic or heavy-gauge steel or aluminum plate have also entered the market. Some composite mailboxes made of resilient polymer plastics and mounted on ground spikes can resist severe impacts from baseball bats or even being run over by a vehicle.[20]
In 1978, steady increases in postal service costs caused the USPS to insist on either curbside or centralized mail delivery for new suburban neighborhoods and developments.[26][27] A 1995 cost delivery study published in a USPS Operations handbook listed per-address annual delivery costs as: Door-to-door, $243; Curbside, $154; Cluster Box (centralized mail delivery), $106.[28][29]
With centralized mail delivery, a central community mail station consisting of multiple mailboxes is located within or near a building or in a particular neighborhood. Known variously as group mailboxes, cluster mailboxes, or community mail stations, these mailboxes are often used in newer construction in place of door-to-door or curbside mailbox delivery.
Large apartment buildings usually have a cluster of mailboxes for all units, located in the entry lobby or in a nearby dedicated mailroom. There often is a special lock box (also called a "key keeper" or "Knox box") located at the outside entrance, which either gives access to a front door key or directly activates the front door electric strike, to allow the mail delivery person to enter the building. A similar "Arrow lock" is usually located on the centralized mailbox, to allow the entire unit to be opened for efficient filling of individual mailboxes.[21]
A USPS CBU Mail Station
In the US, a property with a single mailing address but with multiple mail recipients may utilize a community mail station designated CBU, or Cluster Box Unit. CBUs are typically stand-alone units that have locked individual compartments for each tenant in an apartment building, a trailer or mobile home park, or an office center.
By policy, the USPS is reluctant to establish direct to door delivery to new addresses, and now requires special approvals to initiate this service (Postal Operations Manual, Section 631.2) Instead, the USPS has insisted upon centralized mail delivery in virtually all newly constructed residential housing developments, condominiums, and gated communities by requiring or incentivizing the builder or developer to install larger NDCBU (Neighborhood Delivery Collection Box Unit) stations. CBUs and NDCBUs are both commonly known as cluster mailboxes. The NDCBU is a centralized community mail station with compartments for the centralized delivery of mail to multiple recipients at multiple addresses within a single neighborhood development or community.[30]
In new housing developments, the NDCBU location is fixed by the developer, not the USPS, and may be located hundreds of yards away from the addressee's actual residence.[31][32] A parcel locker for receipt of packages and a separate compartment for outgoing mail are usually built into the station.[33] The mail carrier will have a key to a large door on one side that reaches all the compartments, and the residents or tenants will each have a key to the door into their individual compartment on the other side.
The location of the NDCBU in a community or business center is extremely important, since neighborhood cluster box installations located in remote or poorly lighted areas invite large-scale mail theft or vandalism.[32][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] Even when located in a high-traffic location or inside a gated community, the NDCBU is a tempting target for thieves attracted by the possibility of recovering checks, cash, identifying information, or other valuables from multiple victims.[30][32][34][36][38][39][42][43] A 2008 RAND Corporation study, citing USPS statistics collected between 2004 and 2007, found that NDCBU thefts constituted 52.7% of all urban neighborhood mail thefts and 76.6% of all rural neighborhood mail thefts from locations with more than one mailbox, with higher-income ZIP code zones having a substantially higher number of thefts than low-income ZIP code zones.[44]
Canada[edit]
Rural Community Mail Box (CMB) Station in Canada
In Canada, community mailboxes (or Supermailboxes) appeared in the late 1980s in newer suburban areas. Newer developments usually are temporarily supplied with green rural community mail boxes and replaced later with permanent supermailboxes.
Since 2004, many rural Canadian residents have been required to use community mail stations (known as a Community Mail Box, or CMB) instead of individual curbside mailboxes in an attempt to reduce health and safety complaints by Canada Post rural mail carriers.[2][45] This change has been extended to some suburban areas of the country as well.[31][46][47]
In 2014, in an effort to cut costs, Canada Post announced its intent to phase out door-to-door delivery and adopt community mailboxes in 32% of urban centres. The plan faced criticism, especially due to accessibility concerns. The program was suspended immediately after the election of Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party government in 2015—which had promised to cease further cutbacks to Canada Post.[48][49]
Australia[edit]
Home Parcel boxes are being used in Australia to facilitate the delivery of parcels ordered over the internet as the letter box declines in use due to emails. Special locking mechanisms with dynamic codes are being used to create a new lock code on every delivery, ensuring greater security from petty theft. These lock codes are accessed by the delivery company using their barcode scanner and a standard barcode or QR code.[50]
Guinness World Record[edit]
The largest mailbox in the world is located in Casey, Illinois (US) and measures at 162.63 cubic metres (5,743 cu ft). It was created by Jim Bolin and was verified on the 20th of October 2015." (wikipedia.org)
"The Moon is an astronomical body orbiting Earth as its only natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and by far[13] the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits (its primary). The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io, the second-densest satellite in the Solar System among those whose densities are known.
The Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. The most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a hypothetical Mars-sized body called Theia. New research of Moon rocks, although not rejecting the Theia hypothesis, suggests that the Moon may be older than previously thought.[14]
The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, and thus always shows the same side to Earth, the near side. Because of libration, slightly more than half (about 59%) of the total lunar surface can be viewed from Earth.[15] The near side is marked by dark volcanic maria that fill the spaces between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters. After the Sun, the Moon is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth's sky. Its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and the slight lengthening of the day.
The Moon's average orbital distance is 384,402 km (238,856 mi),[16][17] or 1.28 light-seconds. This is about thirty times the diameter of Earth. The Moon's apparent size in the sky is almost the same as that of the Sun, since the star is about 400 times the lunar distance and diameter. Therefore, the Moon covers the Sun nearly precisely during a total solar eclipse. This matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future because the Moon's distance from Earth is gradually increasing.
The Moon was first reached by a human-made object in September 1959, when the Soviet Union's Luna 2, an unmanned spacecraft, was intentionally crashed onto the lunar surface. This accomplishment was followed by the first successful soft landing on the Moon by Luna 9 in 1966. The United States' NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned lunar missions to date, beginning with the first manned orbital mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11 in July 1969. These missions returned lunar rocks which have been used to develop a geological understanding of the Moon's origin, internal structure, and the Moon's later history. Since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, the Moon has been visited only by unmanned spacecraft.
Both the Moon's natural prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases as seen from Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures since time immemorial. Such cultural influences can be found in language, lunar calendar systems, art, and mythology." (wikipedia.org)
"Target Corporation (doing business as Target and stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American big box department store chain headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the seventh largest retailer in the United States, and a component of the S&P 500 Index.[4] Target was established as the discount division of Dayton's department store of Minneapolis in 1962. It began expanding the store nationwide in the 1980s (as part of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation), and introduced new store formats under the Target brand in the 1990s. The company has found success as a cheap-chic player in the industry.[5] The parent company was renamed Target Corporation in 2000, and divested itself of its last department store chains in 2004. It suffered from a massive, highly publicized security breach of customer credit card data and the failure of its short-lived Target Canada subsidiary in the early 2010s, but experienced revitalized success with its expansion in urban markets within the United States.
As of 2019, Target operates 1,931 stores throughout the United States,[3] and is ranked number 37 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue.[6] Their retail formats include the discount store Target, the hypermarket SuperTarget, and "small-format" stores previously named CityTarget and TargetExpress before being consolidated under the Target branding....
Store formats
Target
The exterior of a typical Target store in Rock Hill, South Carolina, in May 2012 (Store #1371)
CVS Pharmacy inside of a Target store (store #1910 in Savannah, Georgia)
The first Target discount store opened in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, on May 1, 1962.[12] Present-day properties are roughly 135,000 square feet (12,500 m2) and sell general merchandise, including hardlines and softlines.[13] While many Target stores follow a standard big-box architectural style,[14] the company has focused on "customizing each new store to ensure a locally relevant experience [...] that best fit the surrounding neighborhood’s needs" since August 2006.[15] Initially, only SuperTarget locations operated Starbucks Coffee counters, although they were integrated into general-merchandise stores through their expanded partnership beginning in 2003.[16]
Target introduced the "PFresh" store prototype in 2006, which expanded its grocery selection in general-merchandise locations by upwards of 200%. Newly constructed stores that follow the PFresh format are roughly 1,500 square feet (140 m2) larger than properties without groceries, although retain the Target branding because their offerings are considerably more limited than SuperTarget. PFresh sells perishable and frozen foods, baked goods, meat, and dairy. The company remodeled 109 stores accordingly in 2006, and renovated another 350 stores the following year.[17] The company's decision to close their garden centers opened floor space for PFresh expansion and larger seasonal departments beginning in 2010.[18]
CVS Health
On June 15, 2015, CVS Health announced an agreement with Target to acquire all of Target's pharmacies and clinic businesses for around $1.9 billion. The Target pharmacies were rebranded as CVS Health pharmacies, which totaled 1,672 pharmacies in February 2016. The Target clinics were also rebranded as MinuteClinic. The acquisition of the Target pharmacies enabled CVS to expand its market into Seattle, Denver, Portland, and Salt Lake City.[19][20]
SuperTarget
The exterior of a SuperTarget in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2020. This store was remodeled in October of 2017. (Store #1777)
The first Target Greatland location opened in Apple Valley, Minnesota, in September 1990. They were about 50% larger than traditional Target stores, and pioneered company standards, including an increased number of checkout lanes and price scanners, larger aisles, expanded pharmacy and photography departments, and a food court. Target Greatland locations have since been converted to stores following the PFresh format beginning in 2009.[21]
The first SuperTarget hypermarket opened in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1995, and expanded upon the Target Greatland concept with the inclusion of a full grocery department.[12] The company expanded their grocery assortment in 2003 and adopted the modified tagline "Eat Well. Pay Less." (in reference to their tagline "Expect More. Pay Less.") in 2004.[12][22] In the early 2000s, 43 locations (of nearly 100) featured E-Trade trading stations, although they were all closed by June 2003 after E-Trade determined that "we were not able to make it into a profitable distribution channel."[23]
When comparing itself with rival Walmart Supercenter hypermarkets, then-chief executive Gregg Steinhafel opined that Walmart operates like "a grocer that happens to also sell general merchandise," where in contrast, its less aggressive expansion of SuperTarget stores is indicative of their position that the grocery industry as a "high-impact, low-cost" side project.[22] The company operated 239 SuperTarget locations as of September 2015;[24] they each encompass an estimate of 174,000 square feet (16,200 m2).[25]
In article written in August 2015, Target was quoted as saying "Big or small, our stores have one thing in common: they're all Target."[26] Since then, newer stores have opened under the Target name.
Small-format Target
The exterior of the CityTarget in Boston, Massachusetts, in October 2015, now rebranded as Target (store #2822)
While typical Target locations are about 135,000 square feet (12,500 m2), the majority of "small-format" CityTarget stores are roughly 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2). The first stores were opened in July 2012, in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle;[13] the 160,000 square feet (15,000 m2) location in Boston is the largest CityTarget and opened in July 2015.[27] TargetExpress stores hover around 14,000 to 21,000 square feet (1,300 to 2,000 m2); the first opened in Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota in July 2014.[28] Products in these flexible-format properties are typically sold in smaller packages geared towards customers using public transportation. Locations built in college communities often carry an extended home department of apartment and dormitory furnishings.[29] In August 2015, Target announced that it would rename its nine CityTarget and five TargetExpress stores as Target beginning that October, deciding that "Big or small, our stores have one thing in common: they're all Target."[27] The first small-format stores under the unified naming scheme opened later that month in Chicago, Rosslyn, San Diego, and San Francisco.[30] The company opened a 45,000 square feet (4,200 m2) store in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York in October 2016. In that same month, three other similar-sized stores opened in Philadelphia, Cupertino, California, and the area around Pennsylvania State University.[5] Target opened a 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) store in Austin's Dobie Twenty21, adjacent to the UT Austin campus.[31]
Nearly all of its planned openings through 2019 are small formats, which are less than 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2).[5] The goal of these smaller-format stores is to win over the business of millennial customers. The nearly 30 new locations were to be situated in college towns or densely populated areas...
Differentiation from competitors
Since its founding, it has intended to differentiate its stores from its competitors by offering what it believes is more upscale, trend-forward merchandise at lower costs, rather than the traditional concept of focusing on low-priced goods. Douglas J. Dayton, one of the Dayton brothers, explained John Geisse's concept:
"We will offer high-quality merchandise at low margins because we are cutting expenses. We would much rather do this than trumpet dramatic price cuts on cheap merchandise."[55]
As a result, Target stores tend to attract younger customers than Walmart, among other competitors. The median Target shopper is 40, the youngest of all major discount retailers that Target competes directly against. The median household income of Target's customer base is roughly $64,000. Roughly 76% of Target customers are female, and more than 43% have children at home. About 80% have attended college and 57% have completed college.[118][119]
In October 2008, Target announced plans to fight the perception that their products are more expensive than those of other discount retailers. It added perishables to their inventory, cut back on discretionary items, and spent three-quarters of their marketing budget on advertising that emphasizes value and includes actual prices of items featured in ads. Target also planned to slow its expansion from about 100 stores a year down to 70 stores a year.[120][121][122]
Target stores are designed to be more attractive than large big-box stores by having wider aisles, drop ceilings, a more attractive presentation of merchandise, and generally cleaner fixtures. Special attention is given to the design of the store environment: graphics reinforce its advertising imagery, while shelves are dressed with contemporary signage, backdrops, and liners, often printed on inexpensive material such as paper, corrugated and foam boards. Some stores, particularly those in the vicinity of major airports, have a bullseye painted on the roof that can be seen from above: the stores in East Point, Georgia near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Rosemont, Illinois, near O'Hare International Airport; Potomac Yard, Virginia, near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport; College Point, New York (Queens), east of LaGuardia Airport; and Richfield, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport are among such locations.[123]
Target stores do not sell firearms. In the early 1990s, they ceased sales of toy guns that looked realistic and limited its toy gun selection to ones that were brightly colored and oddly shaped. In 2014, Target also "respectfully" asked their guests to leave any firearms at home when visiting the store.[124] They do not sell tobacco products and have not sold cigarettes since 1996.[125][126]
Most Target stores do not play music, but may be changing that from 2017 with a rebranding process, adding music to the rebranded stores.[127]
Targét
Some people jokingly give Target the pseudo-French pronunciation /tɑːrˈʒeɪ/ tar-ZHAY, as though it were an upscale boutique.[128][129] Though this practice is often attributed to Oprah Winfrey's usage on her television show, it is first attested in 1962, the year the first Target store opened.[129] Target once sold a line of shoes called "Miss Targé;"[130] this was reinforced by a 1980s television advertisement starring Didi Conn.[citation needed] This pronunciation has also led some people to incorrectly believe that the company is French-owned.[54] In recognition of the nickname's popularity and cachet, Target Corporation licensed its new name and logo to Brand Central LLC in 2006, complete with an accent over the letter "E" for a new line of clothing aimed at more upscale fashion customers. The line, "Targét Couture," was originally sold in Los Angeles-based store Intuition, which deals with high-end brands.[131][132]
Nomenclature
Target uses a practice that was derived in 1989 from The Walt Disney Company[54] by calling its customers "Guests," its employees "Team Members," and its supervisors "Team Leaders." Also, managers are known as "Executive Team Leaders (ETLs)," "Senior Team Leaders (SRTLs)," or "Service and Engagement Team Leaders (SETLs)," and the Store Manager is known as the "Store Team Leader (STL)," Further up the "chain of command" are "District Team Leaders (DTL)," "Group Team Leaders (GTL, sometimes also Group Vice President)," "Regional Team Leaders (RTL, sometimes also Regional Vice President)," and corporate-level executives.
This practice began to be revised in 2018 and became more widespread in 2019 as the Group Team Leader became the Group Operations Director. District Team Leader became the District Senior Director. The Store Team Leader became Store Director. Executive Team Leaders were shortened to Executive Team Lead. Other Team Leaders retained their title though some of the department names changed such as Guest Service Team Leader was renamed Service & Engagement Team Leader. Front of store team members was renamed Guest Advocates. Specialty areas in Style, Beauty and Tech are considered Consultants. Other areas such as General Merchandise, Presentation, Inbound, Fulfillment, Food Service and Reverse Logistics are considered Experts, and Assets Protection and Security Officers are Specialists. Distribution centers and the supply chain including corporate office refers to its employees as Team members, Operations manager, Senior operations manager, Distribution Director, Problem Solvers, and Leads....
In popular culture
One of the earliest references to Target in popular culture is the film Career Opportunities (1991), written by John Hughes, in which an employee and a customer fall in love after hours inside a Target store.[213]
American television program Saturday Night Live featured a recurring sketch in the 2000s starring the Target Lady, an overly enthusiastic Target cashier, played by cast member Kristen Wiig.
Target is the namesake of an episode of the third season of American TV comedy Superstore. In the episode, an employee at the fictional big-box retailer "Cloud 9" leaves for a job at Target, and is accused of poaching employees." (wikipedia.org)
"A pumpkin is a vernacular term for mature winter squash of species and varieties in the genus Cucurbita that has culinary and cultural significance[1][2] but no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning.[3] The term pumpkin is sometimes used interchangeably with "squash" or "winter squash", and is commonly used for cultivars of Cucurbita argyrosperma, Cucurbita ficifolia, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita moschata, and Cucurbita pepo.[1]
Native to North America (northeastern Mexico and the southern United States), C. pepo pumpkins are one of the oldest domesticated plants, having been used as early as 7,000 to 5,500 BC. Today, pumpkins are widely grown for food, as well as for aesthetic and recreational purposes.[4] The pumpkin's thick shell contains edible seeds and pulp. Pumpkin pie, for instance, is a traditional part of Thanksgiving meals in Canada and the United States, and pumpkins are frequently carved as jack-o'-lanterns for decoration around Halloween, although commercially canned pumpkin purée and pumpkin pie fillings are usually made from varieties of winter squash different from the ones used for jack-o'-lanterns....
Etymology and terminology
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the English word pumpkin derives from the Ancient Greek word πέπων (romanized pepōn), meaning 'melon'.[5][6] Under this theory, the term transitioned through the Latin word peponem and the Middle French word pompon to the Early Modern English pompion, which was changed to pumpkin by 17th-century English colonists, shortly after encountering pumpkins upon their arrival in what is now the northeastern United States.[5]
An alternate derivation for pumpkin is the Massachusett word pôhpukun, meaning 'grows forth round'.[7] This term would likely have been used by the Wampanoag people (who speak the Wôpanâak dialect of Massachusett) when introducing pumpkins to English Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony, located in present-day Massachusetts.[8] The English word squash is also derived from a Massachusett word, variously transcribed as askꝏtasquash,[9] ashk8tasqash, or, in the closely-related Narragansett language, askútasquash.[10]
In North America and the United Kingdom, pumpkin usually refers to only the round, orange varieties of winter squash, predominantly derived from Cucurbita pepo, while in New Zealand and Australian English, the term pumpkin generally refers to all winter squash.[1]
Archaeological record
The oldest evidence of Cucurbita pepo pumpkin is fragments found in Mexico that are dated between 7,000 and 5,500 BC.
Description
Cross section of a Cucurbita maxima pumpkin
Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo.[11] Characteristics commonly used to define "pumpkin" include smooth and slightly ribbed skin,[12] and deep yellow to orange color.[12] White, green, and other pumpkin colors also exist.[13]
While C. pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 3 and 8 kilograms (6 and 18 lb), Giant pumpkins can exceed a tonne in mass.[14][15] Most are varieties of Cucurbita maxima, and were developed through the efforts of botanical societies and enthusiast farmers.[14] The largest cultivars of the species Curcubita maxima frequently reach weights of over 34 kg (75 lb), with current record weights of over 1,226 kg (2,703 lbs). [16]
Production
Pumpkin production – 2020
(includes squash and gourds) Country millions of tonnes
China 7.4
India 5.1
Ukraine 1.3
Russia 1.1
United States 1.1
Spain 0.8
World 28.0
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[17]
In 2020, world production of pumpkins (including squash and gourds) was 28 million tonnes, with China accounting for 27% of the total. Ukraine and Russia each produced about one million tonnes.[17]
In the United States
A pumpkin patch in Winchester, Oregon
As one of the most popular crops in the United States, in 2017 over 680 million kilograms (1.5 billion pounds) of pumpkins were produced.[18] The top pumpkin-producing states include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.[4] Pumpkin is the state squash of Texas.[19]
According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 95% of the U.S. crop intended for processing is grown in Illinois.[20] And 41% of the overall pumpkin crop for all uses originates in the state, more than five times the nearest competitor (California, whose pumpkin industry is centered in the San Joaquin Valley), and the majority of that comes from five counties in the central part of the state.[21] Nestlé, operating under the brand name Libby's, produces 85% of the processed pumpkin in the United States, at their plant in Morton, Illinois. In the fall of 2009, rain in Illinois devastated the Nestlé crop, which, combined with a relatively weak 2008 crop depleting that year's reserves, resulted in a shortage affecting the entire country during the Thanksgiving holiday season.[22] Another shortage, somewhat less severe, affected the 2015 crop.[23][24] The pumpkin crop grown in the western United States, which constitutes approximately 3–4% of the national crop, is primarily for the organic market.[25] Terry County, Texas, has a substantial pumpkin industry, centered largely on miniature pumpkins.[21]
Pumpkins are a warm-weather crop that is usually planted in early July. The specific conditions necessary for growing pumpkins require that soil temperatures 8 centimetres (3 in) deep are at least 15.5 °C (60 °F) and that the soil holds water well. Pumpkin crops may suffer if there is a lack of water or because of cold temperatures (in this case, below 18 °C or 65 °F). Soil that is sandy with poor water retention or poorly drained soils that become waterlogged after heavy rain is detrimental. Pumpkins are, however, rather hardy, and even if many leaves and portions of the vine are removed or damaged, the plant can quickly grow secondary vines to replace what was removed.[18]
Pumpkins produce both a male and female flower, with fertilization usually performed by bees.[18] In America, pumpkins have historically been pollinated by the native squash bee, Peponapis pruinosa, but that bee has declined, probably partly due to pesticide (imidacloprid) sensitivity.[26] Ground-based bees, such as squash bees and the eastern bumblebee, are better suited to manage the larger pollen particles that pumpkins create,[27][28] but today most commercial plantings are pollinated by hives of honeybees, which also allows the production and sale of honey that the bees produce from the pumpkin pollen. One hive per acre (0.4 hectares, or five hives per 2 hectares) is recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If there are inadequate bees for pollination, gardeners may have to hand pollinate. Inadequately pollinated pumpkins usually start growing but fail to develop.
Nutrition
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This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Nutrition information should be more broadly representative of pumpkin species and varieties, and should not rely on a deprecated database. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2022)
Pumpkin, rawNutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 109 kJ (26 kcal)
Carbohydrates
6.5 g
Sugars 2.76 g
Dietary fiber 0.5 g
Fat
0.1 g
Protein
1 g
Vitamins Quantity
%DV†
Vitamin A equiv.
beta-Carotene
lutein zeaxanthin
53%
426 μg
29%
3100 μg
1500 μg
Thiamine (B1)
4%
0.05 mg
Riboflavin (B2)
9%
0.11 mg
Niacin (B3)
4%
0.6 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)
6%
0.298 mg
Vitamin B6
5%
0.061 mg
Folate (B9)
4%
16 μg
Vitamin C
11%
9 mg
Vitamin E
3%
0.44 mg
Vitamin K
1%
1.1 μg
Minerals Quantity
%DV†
Calcium
2%
21 mg
Iron
6%
0.8 mg
Magnesium
3%
12 mg
Manganese
6%
0.125 mg
Phosphorus
6%
44 mg
Potassium
7%
340 mg
Sodium
0%
1 mg
Zinc
3%
0.32 mg
Other constituents Quantity
Water 91.6 g
Link to USDA Database entry
Units
μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams
IU = International units
†Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
In a 100-gram (3.5 oz) amount, raw pumpkin provides 110 kilojoules (26 kilocalories) of food energy and is an excellent source (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of provitamin A beta-carotene and vitamin A (53% DV) (table). Vitamin C is present in moderate content (11% DV), but no other nutrients are in significant amounts (less than 10% DV, table). Pumpkin is 92% water, 6.5% carbohydrate, 0.1% fat and 1% protein (table).
Uses
Cooking
Pumpkin pie is a popular way of preparing pumpkin.
Pumpkins have several culinary uses. Most parts of the pumpkin are edible, including the fleshy shell, the seeds, the leaves, and the flowers. In the United States and Canada, pumpkin is a popular Halloween and Thanksgiving staple.[29] Pumpkin purée is sometimes prepared and frozen for later use.[30]
When ripe, the pumpkin can be boiled, steamed, or roasted. In its native North America, pumpkins are an important part of the traditional autumn harvest, eaten mashed[31] and making its way into soups and purées. Often, it is made into pumpkin pie, various kinds of which are a traditional staple of the Canadian and American Thanksgiving holidays. In Canada, Mexico, the United States, Europe and China, the seeds are often roasted and eaten as a snack.
Pumpkins that are still small and green may be eaten in the same way as summer squash or zucchini. In the Middle East, pumpkin is used for sweet dishes; a well-known sweet delicacy is called halawa yaqtin. In the Indian subcontinent, pumpkin is cooked with butter, sugar, and spices in a dish called kadu ka halwa. Pumpkin is used to make sambar in Udupi cuisine. In Guangxi province, China, the leaves of the pumpkin plant are consumed as a cooked vegetable or in soups. In Australia and New Zealand, pumpkin is often roasted in conjunction with other vegetables. In Japan, small pumpkins are served in savory dishes, including tempura. In Myanmar, pumpkins are used in both cooking and desserts (candied). The seeds are a popular sunflower seed substitute. In Thailand, small pumpkins are steamed with custard inside and served as a dessert. In Vietnam, pumpkins are commonly cooked in soups with pork or shrimp. In Italy, it can be used with cheeses as a savory stuffing for ravioli. Also, pumpkin can be used to flavor both alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages.
In the southwestern United States and Mexico, pumpkin and squash flowers are a popular and widely available food item. They may be used to garnish dishes, or dredged in a batter then fried in oil. Pumpkin leaves are a popular vegetable in the western and central regions of Kenya; they are called seveve, and are an ingredient of mukimo,[32] respectively, whereas the pumpkin itself is usually boiled or steamed. The seeds are popular with children who roast them on a pan before eating them. Pumpkin leaves are also eaten in Zambia, where they are called chibwabwa and are boiled and cooked with groundnut paste as a side dish.[33]
Leaves
Pumpkin leaf kimchi
Pumpkin leaves, usually of C. moschata varieties, are eaten as a vegetable in Korean cuisine.
Seeds
Main article: Pumpkin seed
Pumpkin seeds (matured)
Pumpkin seeds, also known as pepitas, are edible and nutrient-rich. They are about 1.5 cm (0.5 in) long, flat, asymmetrically oval, light green in color and usually covered by a white husk, although some pumpkin varieties produce seeds without them. Pumpkin seeds are a popular snack that can be found hulled or semi-hulled at many grocery stores. Per ounce serving, pumpkin seeds are a good source of protein, magnesium, copper and zinc.[34]
Pumpkin seed oil
Pumpkin seed oil, a thick oil pressed from roasted pumpkin seeds, appears red or green in color depending on the oil layer thickness, container properties, and hue shift of the observer's vision.[35][36] When used for cooking or as a salad dressing, pumpkin seed oil is generally mixed with other oils because of its robust flavor.[37] Pumpkin seed oil contains fatty acids, such as oleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid.[38]
Other uses
Pumpkins have been used as folk medicine by Native Americans to treat intestinal worms and urinary ailments, and this Native American remedy was adopted by American doctors in the early nineteenth century as an anthelmintic for the expulsion of worms.[39][qualify evidence] In Germany and southeastern Europe, seeds of C. pepo were also used as folk remedies to treat irritable bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia.[40][41][qualify evidence] In China, C. moschata seeds were also used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis[42] and for the expulsion of tape worms.[43][qualify evidence]. Pumpkin seed meal (C. moschata) represents a rich source of nutrients for poultry feeding with significant improvements in eggs for human consumption.[44]
Culture
Halloween
A pumpkin carved into a jack-o'-lantern for Halloween
Pumpkins are commonly carved into decorative lanterns called jack-o'-lanterns for the Halloween season. Traditionally Britain and Ireland would carve lanterns from vegetables, particularly the turnip, mangelwurzel, or swede,[45]. They continue to be popular choices today as carved lanterns in Scotland and Northern Ireland, although the British purchased a million pumpkins for Halloween in 2004.[46]
The practice of carving pumpkins for Halloween originated from an Irish myth about a man named "Stingy Jack".[4] The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween,[47] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips.[47] Not until 1837 does jack-o'-lantern appear as a term for a carved vegetable lantern,[48] and the carved pumpkin lantern association with Halloween is recorded in 1866.[49]
In the United States, the carved pumpkin was first associated with the harvest season in general, long before it became an emblem of Halloween.[50] In 1900, an article on Thanksgiving entertaining recommended a lit jack-o'-lantern as part of the festivities that encourage kids and families to join together to make their own jack-o'-lanterns.[50]
The traditional American pumpkin used for jack-o-lanterns is the Connecticut field variety.[4][51][52][53]
Association of pumpkins with harvest time and pumpkin pie at Canadian and American Thanksgiving reinforce its iconic role. Starbucks turned this association into marketing with its Pumpkin Spice Latte, introduced in 2003.[54] This has led to a notable trend in pumpkin and spice flavored food products in North America.[55] This is despite the fact that North Americans rarely buy whole pumpkins to eat other than when carving jack-o'-lanterns. Illinois farmer Sarah Frey is called "the Pumpkin Queen of America" and sells around five million pumpkins annually, predominantly for use as lanterns.[56][57]
Chunking
Pumpkin chunking is a competitive activity in which teams build various mechanical devices designed to throw a pumpkin as far as possible. Catapults, trebuchets, ballistas and air cannons are the most common mechanisms.[citation needed]
Pumpkin festivals and competitions
Giant Cucurbita maxima pumpkins
Growers of giant pumpkins often compete to grow the most massive pumpkins. Festivals may be dedicated to the pumpkin and these competitions. In the United States, the town of Half Moon Bay, California, holds an annual Art and Pumpkin Festival, including the World Champion Pumpkin Weigh-Off.[58]
The record for the world's heaviest pumpkin, 1,226 kg (2,703 lb), was established in Italy in 2021.[15]
Folklore and fiction
There is a connection in folklore and popular culture between pumpkins and the supernatural, such as:
The custom of carving jack-o-lanterns from pumpkins derives from folklore about a lost soul wandering the earth.
In the fairy tale Cinderella, the fairy godmother turns a pumpkin into a carriage for the title character, but at midnight it reverts to a pumpkin.
In some adaptations of Washington Irving's ghost story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the headless horseman is said to use a pumpkin as a substitute head.
In most folklore the carved pumpkin is meant to scare away evil spirits on All Hallows' Eve (that is, Halloween), when the dead were purported to walk the earth. " (wikipedia.org)